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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| New report: Russia is helping Iran develop supersonic cruise missile |
| 2026-09-04 |
| By: Peter Suciu [NationalInterest] With a supersonic cruise missile, Iran would become an even greater threat to US Navy warships and US military bases in the Middle East. Russia maintains increasingly close ties with Iran, and Moscow has supplied Tehran with surveillance data and high-resolution satellite imagery from Russian orbital assets. Such intelligence could allow Iran to track the movement and location of US warships, aircraft, and regional bases. However, there are now warnings that Moscow could be secretly helping Iran develop an advanced supersonic cruise missile as part of a multiyear program dubbed C430L. “The main purpose of C430L is to help Iran to develop a ramjet propulsion system, an engine that allows a cruise missile to sustain flight at several times the speed of sound,” the Financial Times first reported on Tuesday. Missile and military analysts warn that such technology could be used to allow Tehran to develop anti-ship cruise missiles, which could threaten commercial shipping and even United States Navy warships in the Persian Gulf, the Strait of Hormuz, and the Gulf of Aden. In addition, the same technology would enable the Islamic Republic to produce cruise missiles that could strike ground targets throughout the region, including US military bases. “Iran has built and flight-tested the ramjet propulsion system, although there is no evidence that a Russian-assisted supersonic cruise missile has yet been deployed,” the FT report added. The program was reportedly coordinated via the Russian state arms exporter Rosoboronexport, which is a subsidiary of the state-owned Rostec military industrial conglomerate, and NPO Mashinostroyeniya, the Russian rocket design bureau based in Reutov. The bureau is now under US and international sanctions due to its role in supporting the Kremlin’s military actions and territorial violations in Ukraine. During the Cold War, NPO Mashinostroyeniya developed several Soviet weapons systems, notably the UR-100N intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). More at the link |
| Posted by:badanov |
| #1 |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2026-09-04 07:27 |