HMS Montrose seized packages containing Iranian surface-to-air-missiles and engines for land-attack cruise missiles.
In early 2022, whilst on routine maritime security operations, Royal Navy ship HMS Montrose seized Iranian weapons from speedboats being operated by smugglers in international waters south of Iran.
The Royal Navy say that the weapons seized included surface-to-air-missiles and engines for land attack cruise missiles, in contravention of UN Security Council resolution 2216 (2015).
This is the first time a British Naval warship has interdicted a vessel carrying such sophisticated weapons from Iran.
“The seizures, which occurred on 28th January and 25th February 2022, took place in the early hours of the morning. HMS Montrose’s Wildcat helicopter, equipped with state of the art radar systems, was scanning for vessels smuggling illicit goods. The helicopter crew spotted small vessels moving at speed away from the Iranian coast. During the February interdiction, United States Navy destroyer USS Gridley supported efforts by deploying a Seahawk helicopter to provide critical overwatch during the operation.
On both occasions, the Wildcat helicopter pursued the vessels and reported back to HMS Montrose that they could see suspicious cargo on deck. A team of Royal Marines approached the vessels on two Rigid Hulled Inflatable Boats before securing and searching the vessel. Dozens of packages containing advanced weaponry were discovered, confiscated and brought back to HMS Montrose.”
Minister for the Armed Forces James Heappey was quoted as saying:
“The UK is committed to upholding international law, from standing up to aggression in Europe to interdicting illegal shipments of weaponry that perpetuates instability in the Middle East. The UK will continue to work in support of an enduring peace in Yemen and is committed to international maritime security so that commercial shipping can transit safely without threat of disruption.”
The Ministry of Defence added:
“The seized packages were returned to the UK for technical analysis which revealed that the shipment contained multiple rocket engines for the Iranian produced 351 land attack cruise missile and a batch of 358 surface-to-air missiles. The 351 is a cruise missile with a range of 1,000km. It is regularly used by the Houthis to strike targets in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and was also the type of weapon used to attack Abu Dhabi on 17th January 2022, which killed three civilians.”
You can read more on this here.
So I assume the disarmament activist will protesting outside the Iranian embassy 😀
Why spend millions on cruise missile programs when we can just impound someone else’s? Fit ’em to our ships, a bit of jiggery-pokery, slap an RN sticker on it, job done!
I jest of course 😉
But in all seriousness, great job to those involved, more weapons out of the hands of rogue states. Well done.
Cheers M@
I was thinking more along the lines of possible donation to Ukraine perhaps 😏
Yeah slap a few on an old mine countermeasures vessel, gift it to Ukraine and let them patrol it just outside the black sea…. where they can intercept any grain ships that Turkey let through! Simple right? (ROFL)
M@
Yeah they’d obviously they’d slap a load of SAMs to a mine hunter to tackle a grain freighter…
after all there’s absolutely nothing useful the Ukrainians could do with a load of SAMs is there? 🤷🏻♂️🤦🏻♂️🤦🏻♂️
I read about this the otherday and wondered just what had they found: (Looking at the two warhead looking items at the back)
Time to do some reverse engineering …
They’re probably reversed engineered copies of western weapons so probably not much point other than to identify any deficiencies in the design that could make they easier to defeat.
Best not to make assumptions, any knowledge gained from doing an RE on these will only benefit us and our allies in countering them. It will also tell us something about how good (or bad) Iranian engineering actually is.
Credit where credit is due, they have managed to keep the F14 flying with no support from the USA.
Paul T wrote:
actually they did in a roundabout way. The Iranians by hook and crook gained access to a large number of spare parts for US kit (including the F14)
https://i.postimg.cc/rpBVBhCD/Opera-Snapshot-2022-07-08-161447-www-wired-gov-net.png
We know how good Iranian engineering is, they are one of the very few countries to run a viable nuclear programme without outside assistance from an existing nuclear power.
J wrote: The Iranian air force is most impressive for what it is worth. The F5 developments in particular are my particular favourites, In 2008 the Iran Aircraft Manufacturing Industrial company (IAM/HESA) was contracted by the Islamic Republic of Iran Air force (IRIAF) to modernise a fleet of 63 Northrop F5E/F Tiger II light fighter jets Ten years later the company completed the modernization of the first aircraft and in 2020 the initial batch of 3 F5E upgraded under project Kowsar were handed over. As of May 2022 the IRIAF is scheduled to receive its fourth upgraded F5E. One of the… Read more »
Developing/modifying a 1960’s Airframe maybe look ok. But does it fly better? Does it improve the aircraft in anyway over the original? Much more important would be what have they done inside the airframe. Avionics, weapons etc etc.
Don’t get me wrong I admire the Iranian airforce for keeping old jets flying.
I often think of Iran as a country with a mostly young population ruled by old grumpy men. Hopefully one day we can all get along nicely
There have been lots of recent diplomatic meeting with both Russia and China. I wouldn’t be surprised to hear that Iran has purchased either JF17 Thunder from China or Mig35/Su35 from Russia.
i hope the marines are trained to check for booby traps