Documents reveal Russian request to supply Iran with 90 missile launchers by December 2025
Key Facts
A production schedule prepared by Russian company Vympel in May 2024 listed an order to export 90 launchers to Iran, with deliveries scheduled from late 2024 through December 2025, according to an investigation published by The Guardian on November 5. The contract is identified in the schedule by the code “K-10,” while separate internal papers link that code to Iran. The documents reveal a specific order within expanding Russian-Iranian military cooperation. But the records reviewed by the newspaper do not establish that the launchers were actually delivered. The Guardian said the documents “do not prove whether the launchers were ultimately delivered.”
The launchers are for LMUR guided missiles fired from attack helicopters, according to documents obtained by Dallas Analytics, a Ukrainian private intelligence firm, and shared with The Guardian. Russian forces have used the missile extensively against Ukrainian targets since the full-scale Russian invasion began in 2022, the report said. The documents thus describe a system linked to ongoing combat use, as well as part of an export order listed on a production schedule. The Guardian said the papers detail plans to supply Iran with launchers, not the outcome of their implementation. The records cited in the report contained no independent confirmation of delivery.
The launchers were designed to be mounted on Russian Mi-28 attack helicopters and carry LMUR missiles, also known as Izdeliye 305, according to Al-Monitor. The missile can strike moving targets at a range of up to 14 kilometers, the report said. That range places the missile within a guided air system with a stated ability to target moving objects from a helicopter. The documents provide a technical description of the launchers and their role, but no evidence that Iranian forces have operated them. Russian forces have used the missile against Ukrainian targets since 2022, according to The Guardian.
The production schedules also include another order from China for 192 APU-305 launchers, alongside seven Russian customers, according to Al-Monitor. The schedules cover production during 2024 and 2025, placing the Iranian order among a broader list of domestic and export orders for the system. The inclusion of orders from China and Russian customers shows that multiple parties appear in the records, without clarifying whether those orders were fulfilled. The Iranian order specifies the quantity and scheduled delivery timetable, but the delivery status remains unresolved in the published documents. These details describe what was entered in the production records, rather than confirming that the launchers reached any buyer.
The production background points to pressure on Vympel’s manufacturing capacity amid the war in Ukraine. In a letter dated May 2024, the company warned that delays in supplying key components threatened the assembly of missile launchers and could disrupt Russian government defense contracts, according to The Guardian. Vympel said in the letter that the delays “threaten the assembly of missile launchers and warn of disruption to Russian government defense contracts.” Those concerns are relevant to a schedule that includes a large export order and delivery dates extending through December 2025. However, the report does not directly link the component warning to the fate of the Iranian order or specify its effect on the delivery date.
The order comes amid a strategic partnership agreement signed by Russia and Iran in 2025 that includes provisions for countering shared threats, according to The Guardian. The agreement, however, does not include the mutual defense commitments contained in Russia’s security agreement with North Korea. This political framework places military cooperation between Moscow and Tehran within a broader formal relationship, without itself proving that the launcher deal was carried out. The documents show that the Iranian order was entered on Vympel’s production schedule, while delivery remains unconfirmed in the records reviewed by the newspaper. The report provided no further information about a later shipment date or either side’s official position on the order.