First posted on Instagram · @profilopolitics
Leaked Russian defence-industry documents show Moscow agreed to supply Iran with 90 helicopter-mounted missile launchers before the war between Iran and the United States began, according to an investigation published on Thursday, November 5, 2026, by the Financial Times and reported the same day by The Guardian.
The documents, obtained by Dallas Analytics, a Ukrainian private intelligence organisation, centre on a production schedule drawn up in May 2024 by Vympel, a Russian designer of missiles and launch systems. The schedule lists an export order for 90 APU-L twin-rail launchers for a customer identified only by the code "K-10", with deliveries within the Russian production chain scheduled from late 2024 through December 2025.
Separate internal paperwork identifies K-10 as Iran. An October 2022 supply request for equipment for Yak-130 aircraft lists the consignee as "'K10' Iran" and was countersigned by the acting head of the Russian Defence Ministry's 704th Military Representation. The Financial Times reported that K-10 is the code Rosoboronexport, Russia's state arms exporter, uses for Iran.
The launchers are designed to carry the LMUR, a precision-guided air-to-surface missile also known as Product 305 or the Kh-39, which Russian forces have used extensively in Ukraine. They are fitted to Mi-28 attack helicopters, which Iran already operates. The same production schedule listed a separate order from China for 192 APU-305 launchers.
A letter sent in May 2024 from Vympel to the defence design bureau KBM, seeking faster deliveries of components and warning that delays could jeopardise nine contracts, was co-signed by the head of the Russian Defence Ministry's 123rd Military Representation.
The documents do not establish whether the 90 launchers ever reached Iran. The schedule shows the order was placed, not that the hardware arrived. Dallas Analytics told Fox News Digital the contract itself is "a very strong proof" of the transfer. A separate production schedule listing six Yak-130 jet trainers for Iran is consistent with publicly reported deliveries of the aircraft, which data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute shows were completed by the end of 2024. The source of the documents has its own stake in the conflict: Dallas Analytics is Ukrainian, and Ukraine is at war with Russia.
The findings undercut President Donald Trump's repeated statements that Russia was not helping Iran. On October 12, writing on Truth Social, he dismissed warnings of support from Moscow and Beijing, saying it was "at a very low level, but I don't believe they are at all." He has repeated the claim since.
The order was drawn up well before the war began on February 28, 2026, when the United States and Israel launched strikes on Iran. The war is now in its ninth month, and Iran has largely choked off the Strait of Hormuz, the waterway through which much of the world's oil passes.
Moscow has denied reports that it is supplying military equipment to Iran, and neither the Kremlin nor Tehran has acknowledged the contract. U.S. intelligence has assessed that Russia provided Iran with information on the location of American military assets and, more recently, satellite imagery and weapons components, according to reports, though administration officials have said that support has not materially affected the U.S. campaign.
The launcher order is not the first such disclosure. In September, the Financial Times reported, citing leaked Russian correspondence, travel records and military patents, that Russia secretly helped Iran develop supersonic cruise missile technology. The programme, codenamed C430L, began in 2023 and continued through this year's war, according to the report.