December 31, 2000

Iran has test-fired two new missiles during recent naval exercises. One of them is a modified version of the Chinese YJ-1 (C-802) medium-range anti-ship missile. (The modifications reportedly increased the range, but no details were given.) This was, for the first time, used with over-the-horizon targeting. Iran is thought to have about 75 C-802s, some of which were built in Iran using French manufacturing technology. The C-802 is carried by the ten Thonder-class (built in China as the Hudong-class) missile boats and some of the nine French-built Combattante-II missile boats. The other was the Nour, a previously-unknown surface-to-surface missile.--Stephen V Cole