🪖 The Chinese tech & kit bolstering Iran’s defenses

🪖 The Chinese tech & kit bolstering Iran’s defenses

When it comes to weapons R&D and manufacturing, Iran is a powerhouse, fielding some of the most innovative, asymmetric warfare-oriented equipment in the world, from drones and missiles to coastal defenses.

But everyone can use a little help from their friends sometimes, and China has taken an uncharacteristically strong interest in beefing up Iran’s defenses against potential US/Israeli aggression.

For openers, China’s MizarVision satellite constellation has made a mockery of CENTCOMs’ attempts to quietly redeploy military assets at bases across the region, exposing the positions of US strike and support aviation and warships not just to Iran, but the whole world.

And that’s just the public facing side of things.

A recent Modern Diplomacy report revealed China’s Ministry of State Security (MSS) has been helping Iran close digital vulnerabilities in the security and defense sector by providing access to closed, encrypted Chinese systems difficult to penetrate by the CIA and the Mossad

The same report details China’s push to get Iran to adopt its BeiDou-3 satnav

Defense Security Asia has reported that Iran may have acquired the YLC-8B – China’s flagship anti-stealth, 3D, long-range UHF radar. It’s designed specifically to track the F-35 stealth jets the US may try to use for Wild Weasel missions inside Iran in the event of war. The radar has a >500km range (200-250km against stealth targets)

In 2025, regional media reported that China had beefed up Iran’s air defenses by selling it the HQ-9B – one of China’s most advanced long-range, active radar-homing SAMs. The HQ-9B is designed to facilitate multi-layered, 360-degree defense against aircraft, cruise and ballistic threats at ranges of 260-300 km, and has advanced electronic countermeasures

A new Reuters report says Iran is on the brink of acquiring the CM-302 – the export variant of China’s heavy YJ-12 ‘carrier killer’ anti-ship cruise missile. Armed with a 250-500kg warhead, the missile flies at speeds of Mach 3-4 at elevations as low as 5m, making timely detection extremely difficult. The CM-302’s range is capped at 290km (YJ-12’s range: ~500 km). The system has advanced autonomous anti-jamming and EW capabilities

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