Iskander SRBM Reinforced with Kometa Antennas for Signal Defense

12 March, 2024 Kometa modules in the tail part of the Russian Iskander missile.

2024 year. Ukraine. Photo credits: Telegram channel "Colonel GSh"

Russian engineers reinforced the Iskander missiles with Kometa antennas to protect navigation signals from interference. New changes in the design of a 9M723 ballistic missile were reported by the Ukrainian military in the Telegram group "Colonel GSh." An adaptive antenna array was discovered among the debris of this missile, recovered in one of the Ukrainian regions.

The military showed photos of the tail of the missile, which was equipped with these modules.

Kometa modules in the tail part of the Russian Iskander missile.

2024 year. Ukraine. Photo credits: Colonel GSh Telegram channel

To do this, the designers had to replace containers with chaffs, which were supposed to counteract anti-aircraft missiles.

"Instead of containers with chaffs, additional modules of the satellite navigation system are now located in the tail, which in their structure are similar to those of the Kometa," the military said.

The tail part of the Iskander missile. Photo credits: Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation

This number of antennas should provide a high level of electronic systems' signal suppression and can simultaneously neutralize several sources of interference. The Kometa series of digital antenna arrays is available in several design versions with many different versions.

There are four antenna elements in the Kometa digital antenna arrays instead of one. They allow for the acquisition of spatial information about the direction of arrival of the interference radiation and its compensation.

A series of Russian Kometa digital antenna arrays

All elements of the Kometa are created in a single case. At the same time, the new versions have eight antenna elements.

Recently, it became known that the Russians also strengthened bomb signal protection with the new Kometa antennas.