Until now, the Belarusian armed forces had the ability to strike at a distance of 300 km with the W-300 Polonez-M Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS) developed by the Belarusian defence industry in significant cooperation with China.
The announcement of the operational readiness of the Russian-supplied Iskander-M tactical ballistic missile system means that the armed forces of Belarus increased their capability to precision strike targets at a distance of up to 500 km.
According to the Ministry of Defence of Belarus, the Iskander-M systems received by the armed forces of Belarus are identical to the Iskander systems operated by the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. Photos provided by the Belarusian defence ministry indicate that Minsk received 9M723 quasi-ballistic missiles as well as 9M728 cruise missiles from Russia.
There is no official information on the number of the Iskander-M launchers received by Belarus. Perhaps it is one brigade set. In the configuration of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, one Iskander-M brigade set consists of 12 common transport-erector-launcher (TEL). Each TEL carries two missiles.
