PDB Afternoon Bulletin | September 2nd, 2026: Russia Helps Iran Target U.S. Warships & China Builds Space Pursuit Satellites

**Mike Baker** (0:11)
It's Wednesday, the 2nd of September, welcome to the PDB Afternoon Bulletin. I'm Mike Baker, your eyes and ears on the world stage. All right, let's get briefed. First up, leaked documents reveal how Russia is repaying the Iranian regime for the drones Russia uses against Ukraine. They're helping Iran master technology designed to put the US. Navy at greater risk. Later in the show, China develops satellites capable of targeting, pursuing, capturing, and even refueling spacecraft as Washington prepares for the possibility of combat hundreds of miles above Earth. Frankly, Elvis has left the building when he comes to that old theoretical discussion about the possible weaponization of space. Space has been weaponized for many years at this point. But first, today's afternoon spotlight. A new investigation reveals Russia has been secretly helping Iran develop supersonic cruise missiles capable of threatening American aircraft carriers and other warships in the Middle East. The program is called C430L. Well, that's catchy. And according to the Financial Times, it began in 2023 and is ongoing. The investigation is based on leaked Russian correspondence, travel records, and an analysis of military patents. The bottom line is that Russian engineers are reportedly helping Iran master the technology needed to build these advanced cruise missiles. And the program centers on something called a ramjet engine. Without getting too far into the engineering, even though I am a bit of a rocket scientist, a ramjet uses the missile's forward movement to compress air entering the engine, allowing the weapon to sustain flight at several times the speed of sound. And that creates a particularly dangerous combination. A cruise missile can approach at low altitude, reducing, of course, the distance at which radar can detect it. Supersonic speed then gives the targeted ship much less time to identify, track and intercept the incoming missile. While American warships possess sophisticated, layered defenses intended to defeat aerial threats, the confined waters around the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz make that defensive challenge even more difficult. The Russian company assisting Iran is also exceptionally well-suited to the job. The company, NPO Mashinostroyena, helped develop the P-800 Oniks, that's a Russian ramjet-powered anti-ship missile, capable of traveling faster than Mach 2 and descending to approximately 10 to 15 meters above the surface during its final approach. The company also helped establish the partnership responsible for developing India's BrahMos supersonic cruise missile.
So, Tehran is receiving help from some of the most experienced anti-ship missile engineers in the world. The US sanctioned the company back in 2014, describing it as a leading Russian rocketry company responsible for cruise missiles launched from ships, submarines and ground positions, along with work supporting Russia's strategic nuclear forces. According to the Financial Times, Russia's state arms exporter, Rosoboronexport, coordinated the project. Russian arms officials and senior engineers reportedly made repeated trips to Iran before a contract was formally signed with the Iranian Defense Ministry back in November of 2023
By 2025, the company had received a large collection of Iranian technical material, including data from an actual test flight. That test appears to have exposed some serious problems. The telemetry, showing how the propulsion system was performing, ended less than one minute into the flight, but the Russian engineers subsequently sent Iran detailed questions about changes to the fuel system, instability inside the combustion chamber, the design of the air intake and the engine nozzle. They also wanted to know whether the ramjet continued operating after the telemetry disappeared. In other words, Iran had built and tested an experimental system, but needed Russian experts to determine what went wrong and how to fix it. Then in April of 2025, Rosoboronexport proposed sending a delegation of approximately 24 Russian specialists to Iran for additional technical consultations. Correspondence from June of this year shows the two sides were still discussing a further phase of the project and additional Russian technical reports.
And reportedly, Iran has been pursuing this capability for years. In 2019, an Iranian defense-linked company displayed what it described as an indigenous ramjet engine during a visit by then-Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
And in August of 2023, Iranian media claimed Tehran had begun testing a prototype supersonic cruise missile. But mastering ramjet propulsion is extremely difficult, and the leaked correspondence suggests Iran's engineers had not solved the most important technical problems alone. And Russia may not be the Iranian regime's only path toward this capability. If you'll remember back in February of this year, we reported that Iran was close to purchasing Chinese CM-302 supersonic anti-ship missiles, which have a reported range of approximately 290 kilometers. Now, there's been no confirmation that that Chinese deal was completed. But together, these programs reveal a potential two-track strategy. Iran has sought a finished weapon from China that could provide a more immediate capability, while using Russian engineers to develop the knowledge needed to produce their own missiles over the long term.