Russia secretly helping Iran develop advanced supersonic cruise missiles

The reported cooperation comes amid increasingly close strategic and military ties between Russia and Iran | Photo: Shutterstock

Russia has allegedly been secretly helping Iran develop advanced supersonic cruise missiles under a multi-year covert programme, in what the Financial Times reported as one of the most significant known transfers of strategic military technology from Moscow to Tehran.

According to the Financial Times, the programme, codenamed C430L, began in 2023 and involves some of Russia's most experienced missile specialists. The programme aims to help Iran develop a ramjet propulsion system that could enable cruise missiles to travel at several times the speed of sound.

The Financial Times investigation, based on leaked Russian correspondence, travel records and analysis of military patents, found that the programme continued during the US-Israeli conflict against Iran.

"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 with Conflict Armament Research, told the Financial Times.

"A programme like this would require political clearance from the very top in Russia," Hinz said.

The report said the ramjet technology could be used in anti-ship and land-attack cruise missiles. Supersonic cruise missiles combine high speed with the ability to fly at low altitude, reducing the time available for air and missile defence systems to detect and intercept them.

The technology could be particularly significant for Iran in the Gulf, where US and allied forces operate advanced land- and sea-based defensive systems.

According to the Financial Times, Iran has already built and flight-tested the ramjet propulsion system, although there is no evidence that a Russian-assisted supersonic cruise missile has been deployed.

"For the Iranians, this would give them a qualitatively new strategic weapon system that could threaten US Navy vessels," Jim Lamson, a former Iran-focused military analyst with the CIA, who is now at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies, told the Financial Times.

The leaked correspondence reviewed by the Financial Times also indicates that discussions over the programme continued into this summer.

The reported cooperation comes amid increasingly close strategic and military ties between Russia and Iran. Tehran has supplied Russia with Shahed attack drones, which have become an important component of Moscow's war in Ukraine, and has assisted Russia in establishing production of the drones domestically.

Ukraine and Western officials have also accused Russia of providing Iran with battlefield assistance during its conflict with the US and Israel, including satellite imagery, drone support and weapons components, the Financial Times reported.

The report comes at a time when the United States Central Command Forces said that it completed the wave of strikes against Iranian military targets, which included air defence sites, mine-laying capabilities, and communications sites, among others.