Thread by @DuitsyWasHere

I had initially filed these under "huh, that's interesting." In retrospect, I'm really embarrassed that we didn't follow this more closely. 1/7

https://twitter.com/johnismay/status/1503536686386622474

2/7 For the longest time, we'd wondered what these circular caps on bottom of the missile were for. Now we know: they're covers for penetration aid tubes.

During the terminal part of its flight, the Iskander-M can poop out up to six penetration aids. But what are they?

3/7 Generally speaking, penetration aids (PENAIDs) can work three different ways: physically, as a decoy, using its radar return; thermally, using a flare to spoof heat-seeking weapons, and electronically, spoofing or jamming radars and electronics.

4/7 The Iskander-M PENAID does all three. The body's radar return adds clutter around the missile. The end of the PENAID has a flare to create a strong thermal signature. The interior of the PENAID has a radio transmitter to jam or spoof radars.

5/7 As @CAT_UXO noted, the GRAU index is 9B899. We've seen five different serial numbers, the highest being 2257, plus at least two more that we can't see the serial numbers of.

6/ Two companies are known to be involved in the 9B899. The Central Radiotechnical Research Institute named for A.I. Berg issued contracts during the mid-2010s, and the Stavropol Radio Factory "Signal" claims to have started production of the 9B899 in 2008.

https://twitter.com/Bit111111/status/1500153667739009026

7/7 There is obviously more analysis to do here, but to conclude:
-Where can I get one?
-I think I found @Ascii211's new mission.