Russia has been covertly helping Iran develop advanced supersonic cruise missiles, according to a Financial Times investigation. The assistance reportedly began in 2023 and has continued into the US war on Iran.
Programme codenamed C430L
The programme, codenamed C430L, has involved some of Russia's most experienced missile specialists to help Iran develop a new class of weapon. It has been carried out via Russian correspondence, travel records and analysis of military patents.
The main purpose of the programme is to assist Iran in developing a ramjet propulsion system, an engine that allows a cruise missile to sustain flight at several times the speed of sound.
Threat to US warships
Supersonic cruise missiles shorten the time available for air and missile defences to detect and engage them, which would help Iran in the Gulf where the US operates advanced defensive systems. Such weapons would pose a threat to US warships in the region and could add a new element to the months-long conflict.
Fabian Hinz, an expert on Iranian missiles and senior analyst with Conflict Armament Research, a UK-based weapons-tracing organisation, said: "This is the transfer of a highly strategically sensitive military technology from Russia that the Iranians have wanted to acquire for decades. A programme like this would require political clearance from the very top in Russia."
Iran has flight-tested the system
Iran has built and flight-tested the ramjet propulsion system. There is no evidence that a Russian-assisted supersonic cruise missile has been deployed yet.
Jim Lamson, a former Iran-focused military analyst with the CIA now at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies, said: "For the Iranians, this would give them a qualitatively new strategic weapon system that could threaten US Navy vessels."
