A chinese YJ-12B costal defense system firing. Photo via the Yonhap News Agency.
Iran is very close to a deal with China to purchase advanced supersonic anti‑ship cruise missiles, Reuters reported on February 24.
According to the news agency, the deal for the CM‑302 missiles is near completion, though no delivery date has been set yet.
Negotiations with China to buy the missiles, which began at least two years ago, accelerated sharply after the 12‑day war between Israel and Iran last June, the agency said, citing six people with knowledge of the talks, including three officials who were briefed by the Iranian government as well as three security officials.
As talks entered their final stages last summer, senior Iranian military and government officials traveled to China, including Massoud Oraei, Iran’s deputy defense minister, according to two of the security officials. Oraei’s visit has not been previously reported.
Reuters didn’t clarify how many missiles were involved in the potential deal, how much Iran had agreed to pay, or whether China would go through with the agreement now given heightened tensions in the region.
“Iran has military and security agreements with its allies, and now is an appropriate time to make use of these agreements,” an Iranian foreign ministry official told the agency.
The CM-302 is the export version of the YJ-12, which was developed by the China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation (CASIC)
The missile was developed to disable ships with a displacement of up to 5,000 tons. However, it can be also used in a land attack role. It has a range of 280 kilometers and a warhead weighing at least 250 kg.
The navigation system of the missile relies on the Chinese satellite system BeiDou, with a data-link for mid-course updates. The missile is equipped with an active radar seeker for terminal homing to achieve a 90% probability of hitting its target.
According to CASIC, the missile is supersonic throughout its flight. The missile travels at a mid-course speed of Mach 1.5-2 and accelerates to Mach 3 or higher during the terminal flight phase.
“It’s a complete gamechanger if Iran has supersonic capability to attack ships in the area,” Danny Citrinowicz, a former Israeli intelligence officer and now senior Iran researcher at Israel’s Institute for National Security Studies think tank, told Reuters. “These missiles are very difficult to intercept.”
The missile will exchange Iran’s already-large arsenal of anti-ship missiles, which includes not just cruise missiles, but also ballistic missiles modified to attack naval vessels.
Reuter’s report came amid a large U.S. military buildup in the Middle East and direct threats from President Donald Trump to Iran. Recent weeks saw two rounds of indirect talks between the two countries, but most reports indicate that war is around the corner.
Even if Iran ended up finalizing the deal with China, it is highly unlikely that it will be able to receive CM-302 missiles before or amid a war with the U.S.
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al sudani is a crazy psychopath. first, he allowed pedophiles to marry eight-year-old girls. only a trump supporter would do something so sick. then he demanded the disarmament of the yazidis in sinjar. given that isis is gaining strength in syria because the kurdish and assad armies gone, there is clearly only one wish. al sudani wants the death of all yazidis and the sexual slavery of all yazidi women.
don’t worry instead of being a bunch of devil worshipping lesbos the yazidid women will settle down and be absolutely horrible mothers, destroying their peoples enemies in the ends of ends
al sudani is a supporter of donald trump. that’s why he’s bothered that the yazidis in sinjar are armed, and that’s why he allowed the marriage of old pedophiles (people like donald trump) to eight-year-old girls. isis is getting stronger and now it has k. i hope the democrats punish donald trump and i hope isis-k punishes al sudani and the other pedophiles. just like the jewish guards, when they first broke the scrotum of the nazies and then hanged them.
old wrinkly middle aged women can be cougars and go after young boys who are blind and lack sense
there were jewish and black american guards.i hope isis-k returns to punish iraqi pedophiles and that the democrats in the us return to power to punish putler and trump. sudani deserves to be captured alive by isis-k for allowing pedophiles to marry eight-year-old girls. all american soldiers who did not defend their kurdish allies deserve to be deployed to ukraine. into the trenches of world war l and newsom give them anthony fauci as their leader.
general zaluzhny was at least smart enough to blow up putin’s gas pipeline.dr. anthony fauci would be ideal for ukraine’s chief of staff because he would keep putler from leaving his bunker for five years after his death. war crimial putler pig would bury himself alive like a cat when it saw a commander virus. like the cat that buried itself in the sidewalk when it saw the muscular mouse in the tom and jerry cartoon.
putlers only crime is fighting like girlscout so he can still talk on the phone with macron.
once a twink always a twink.
should have done that six months ago, duh!