Russia agreed to provide Iran with 90 guided missile launchers

Russia has agreed to supply Iran with 90 advanced guided missile launchers, which can be mounted on helicopters, and which are widely used by Russian forces in their war in Ukraine, according to Russian production documents seen by the Financial Times.

The newspaper said that the documents do not prove that Iran actually received the platforms. The order refers to a production schedule for the years 2024 and 2025, which the Russian company “Vympel”, which designs missiles and launch systems, attached to a letter dated May 2024. The newspaper obtained the document from “Dallas Analytics”, a private Ukrainian intelligence agency.

In its letter, Vimpel called on the Russian Design Bureau (KBM) to accelerate the supply of components for the ABU-L and ABU-305 platforms, warning that any delay could put 9 contracts at risk.

Table 7 includes Russian customers and foreign buyers; The first is China, with an order for 192 ABU-305 platforms, and the second is a buyer with the code “K-10”, ordering 90 ABU-L platforms. The Russian state arms export agency, Rosoboronexport, uses the code “K-10” to refer to Iran, according to a person familiar with the matter and internal Russian documents seen by the newspaper. The same symbol appears in a contract for the supply of Yak-130 training and light attack aircraft. The buyer is explicitly named: “K-10, Iran.”

A production schedule issued in 2023 by a company affiliated with the state defense group Rostec also lists 6 aircraft of this model for the same entity, two during the first half of the year, and 4 during the second half. The schedule matches previously announced deliveries. The Tasnim Agency, affiliated with the Revolutionary Guard, reported in 2023 that Iran had received two aircraft of this type. The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute said that all six planes had been delivered by the end of 2024.

The two platforms are designed to carry the Russian light multi-purpose missile “LMUR”, also known as “Izdeliye 305”, which is a precision weapon capable of hitting moving targets. The missile was unveiled during a Russian military exhibition in 2021, entered service in 2022, and is widely used by Russian forces in Ukraine.

A representative of Dallas Analytics said that the speed of the missile is about 230 meters per second, meaning that it travels a distance of approximately 14 kilometers per minute, noting that the operator can direct it during flight to hit small moving targets. He added that this short-range weapon is suitable for carrying out raids and ambushes, according to the “launch and withdraw” principle, which is based on moving to the launching site, hitting the target, and then withdrawing quickly.

The US Army Equipment Manual indicates that the ABU-L platform was designed for Russian Mi-28 attack helicopters, and each one carries two missiles, compared to one missile for the ABU-305 platform. Iran owns helicopters of this type. Iranian Deputy Defense Minister Mehdi Farhi had told Tasnim, in November 2023, that arrangements for her joining the armed forces had been completed. In January 2026, photos emerged of one of them inside an aircraft hangar in Tehran, and open source researchers located it at an Iranian aviation facility.

The newspaper said that this order reveals the extent to which the two countries have strengthened their military relations since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022. It quoted officials in Western intelligence services that Russia and Iran deepened their partnership during the war taking place this year, in a development that contradicts the recent statements of US President Donald Trump, in which he said that Moscow is doing “very little, if anything” to help Tehran. The newspaper had previously reported that Russia helped Iran develop high-speed cruise missiles, sold it “Verba” shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles, and communicated with it about information that might be related to nuclear weapons.