Russia helping Iran in developing supersonic cruise missiles to boost targeting capabilities

MOSCOW, Sept 2 : Russia has reportedly been helping Iran develop supersonic cruise missiles under a programme that could give Tehran a strong boost in its ability to target US aircraft carriers and other vessels in the region, according to the Financial Times.

The newspaper said in a Tuesday report that the development programme began in 2023 and is focused on technology that would make Iranian cruise missiles significantly harder to intercept than slower, subsonic variants.

The FT said its investigation was based on Russian correspondence, travel records and military patents, describing the programme as "one of the most significant known transfers of strategic military technology from Moscow to Tehran".

Codenamed "C430L", the project was organised by Rosoboronexport, Russia's state arms exporter, and involved NPO Mashinostroyenia, a rocket design organisation under US sanctions.

Documents reviewed by the FT showed that officials from both organisations travelled to Iran several times before the project was formally established in November 2023.

The programme has continued well into 2026, with correspondence from June indicating that the sides were discussing its next stage, although it was unclear whether that phase had begun.

The work was continuing even after Iran came under attack in a joint US-Israeli military campaign this year. While the conflict remains ongoing, it has increasingly centred on a standoff between Washington and Tehran over the Strait of Hormuz, where Iran has sought to restrict shipping by attacking vessels.

The programme is reportedly centred on a ramjet propulsion system that would allow a cruise missile to travel at several times the speed of sound. Military experts cited by the FT assessed that such a weapon would most likely be intended for use against ships, as well as some land targets.

Some of Russia's leading specialists in the field were involved, according to the newspaper, while Russian engineers also analysed data from an Iranian ramjet engine system.

Iran has reportedly built and tested the propulsion system, but there is no evidence that a supersonic cruise missile based on the technology has been deployed.

"This is the transfer of a highly strategically sensitive military technology from Russia that the Iranians have wanted to acquire for decades," Fabian Hinz, an expert on Iranian missiles and senior analyst at Conflict Armament Research, told the FT. "A programme like this would require political clearance from the very top in Russia."

Jim Lamson, a former Iran-focused military analyst with the CIA who is now with the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies, said Russian assistance in overcoming Tehran's technical difficulties could prove particularly significant.

"If the Russians are able to help the Iranians fix their technical problems, I think this would be one of the more impactful areas of Russian military-technical assistance to Iran in recent years," he said.

The Kremlin, Rosoboronexport and NPO Mashinostroyenia did not respond to the FT's requests for comment.

Russia and Iran have maintained close relations, and in January 2025 the two countries signed a strategic partnership agreement aimed at expanding cooperation, including in the military and defence sectors.

Iran had already been supplying Russia with domestically produced Shahed attack drones, which have been widely used against Ukraine. Russia has since begun producing its own versions of the drones.

In April, Ukrainian intelligence accused Russia of providing Iran with detailed imagery of military facilities and other critical sites across the Middle East to support Iranian strikes against US forces and other targets, including critical infrastructure in Israel, during the ongoing war.

The FT also reported last year that Iranian scientists with links to the regime had made a secret trip to Russia, where they met military experts and may have sought to advance work related to nuclear weapons.

(UNI)