Naval Weapons - Anti-Ship Missiles - The Kowsar, Noor and Raad

Anti-Ship Missiles

Kowsar ASM

The Kowsar is the lightest of the 3 main ASM’s in the Iranian arsenal, being able to be launched from either land on mobile platforms, or from sea from the missile version of the IPS-16 fast attack craft (FAC). It comes in two main variants with a third in development. 

Kowsar ASM

The first model is the Kowsar-1 and is identical to the Chinese C-701. Being the lightest of the missiles, it is not intended to engage targets with displacements greater then 180 tons of displacement meaning that the targets in theory would be limited to amphibious landing craft and auxiliary support craft.(1) However, in 2006, Hezbollah was able to deploy a C-701 successfully against the INS Hanit, a corvette with roughly 10000 tons of displacement, in other words, a craft 5 times as large as the acceptable target. The warhead is fairly conventional, with 29 kg of armor piercing high explosive. Guidance during the boost stage consists of inertial navigation which consists of calculating the approximate position of the target. Unlike other ASM’s, the Kowsar-1 does not climb to enter a cruise phase after launch, but rather remains at a fairly constant height of about 15 meters. Once it enters the immediate vicinity of the target, it switches over to TV guidance which would then have to be manually guided onto the correct target. The TV guidance can be replaced with an infrared seeker.
 

Kowsar 1

• Range: 25 km
• Length: 2.5 m
• Missile Weight: 100 kg
• Warhead: 29 kg
• Speed: Mach .8
• Guidance:
o Cruise Phase: INS
o Terminal Guidance: TV Imaging, IR

The second model, the Kowsar-2 is physically identical to the Kowsar-1, however the difference comes in the terminal guidance. The limiting factor of the Kowsar-1 was the TV or IR seeker which meant that the operator would have to stay with the missile the whole way until the target, which in turn meant that its usability on anything else besides a stationary launcher would be unfeasible. This meant that the operators were increasingly vulnerable to counterattacks from all angles. The solution to that was to replace the TV/IR seeker with a ‘millimetre-wave radar’ which is a type of active homing radar that is activated in the terminal phase and automatically scans for the target, allowing the operator to leave the area once the missile is fired, this then allows the missile to be fired from platforms like the upgraded IPS-16.

Kowsar 2

• Range: 25 km
• Length: 2.5 m
• Missile Weigh: 100 kg
• Warhead: 29 kg
• Speed: Mach .8
• Guidance:
o Cruise Phase: INS
o Terminal Guidance: Millimetre-wave radar
• Alterations
o Replacement of terminal guidance with active radar

Noor ASM

The Noor is the bigger brother to the Kowsar. It is the most common missile in the IRGCN’s arsenal and is found on land based launchers, the Thondar and Kaman class missile boats as well as most larger IRIN vessels such as the Alvand and Mowj. 

Noor missile in Holly Defence Exhibition

 It comes in sets of 4 on each of the respective ships, while two can be fired from the Mi-17 and the F-4, while 4 can be allegedly carried on the Su-24, although no pictures of the latter have been unearthed. Like, the Kowsar, it also comes in two main variants, with a third in development. It is in the same class as the more famous Excocet missile.

The Noor-1, is copy of the C-801, the precursor to the C-802. The larger 165 kg warhead as compared to the Kowsar, means that it is most useful against frigates, cruisers and destroyers such as the ‘Oliver Hazard Perry’ and ‘Ticonderoga’ class of ships found in the USN 5th fleet that patrols the Persian Gulf. The largest ship sunk ever successfully sunk, albeit a test, has 10,000 tons of displacement, which is 2000 pounds greater then the Ticonderoga cruiser, the most formidable of the US destroyers. In the early ‘90’s, Iran received 200 C-801’s along with 8 launchers, at that point Iran began to reverse engineer them under the name “Tondar”, eventually it morphed into the Noor-1 project. In the late ‘90’s, Iran adapted them to fire from an F-4. The guidance and flight profile is presumably the same as the C-802. After cruising speed of mach .9 is achieved through a boost motor, it flies at 20-30 meters cruising altitude. Inertial guidance, as with the Kowsar, guides the missile to the target. When entering terminal phase, the two seeker systems activate, the first is the monopulse active radar much like the radar in the Kowsar, the second is an IR seeker that was originally squeezed into the large housing of the original missile as an after market addition, however its usefulness soon led it to become standard equipment. A sharp drop then happens, from 20-30 metres to 5-7 meters above the sea level, maintained by the radio or laser altimeter. This has the advantage of making it near invisible to the target ship because it is below the detection range, especially combined with the integrated jamming capabilities and low radar signature. The missile is driven with kinetic energy through the hull where a delayed fuze allowing the missile to explode within the target vessel.

Noor 1

• Range: 40 km
• Length: 6.5 m
• Missile Weight: 715+ kg
• Warhead: 165 kg
• Speed: .9 mach
• Guidance: Inertial in cruise with monopulse active radar and IR Seeker in terminal

The Noor-2 replaced the original solid fuel rocket of the Noor-1 with a much more powerful turbojet. However the actual range gained is somewhat contentious, some use set figure of 120 km found on the C-802(on which the Noor-2 is a loose copy of). However some cite the domestic modifications to the Microturbo TRI 60-2 powerplant as evidence that the range was extended, and in 2006, during the ‘Blow of Zolfaqar’ wargames, commanders were quoted as saying it was 200 km. However the latter number is cast into doubt when the rest of the article mentions that the missile was only ever fired from warships, whereas in 1997, the Noor-1 was tested from an F-4.  The most likely range is somewhere around 170 km as it fits in line with the upgrades and domestic production of the turbojet, under the name of Tolloue 4 and 5.(8) Although the missile is overall lighter then the Noor-1 due to reduction in the solid fuel, the warhead remains the same packing the same punch, as do the targeting mechanisms remain unchanged. There are several key changes however. First, in the terminal phase, an upgraded altimeter allows the missile to hug the water closer, staying 3-5 meters above the surface. Second, the option of having a ‘pop-up’ attack pattern was also introduced by Chinese partners in 2006. A ‘pop-up’ pattern involves an immediate jump by the missile in the last few seconds allowing the missile to dive deep into the deck of the target. Third is the introduction of manoeuvring algorithms to make it harder for active ship defences to stop the missile. 

Noor 2

• Range: 170 km (140-200 km possible)
• Length: 6.5 m
• Missile Weight: 715+ kg
• Warhead: 165 kg
• Speed: .9 mach
• Guidance
o Cruise: Inertial
o Terminal: DM-3BMonopulse active radar and IR Seeker
• Alterations
o Turbojet engine
o Lower altitude in terminal phase
o Introduction of manoeuvring and ‘pop-up’ attack options

Raad ASM

The largest of Iran’s anti ship missiles, the Raad also has the longest range. It can be fired from a multitude of platforms including static defences, self-propelled tracked vehicles, presumably delivered from North Korea, or from a truck, much like the ones seen launching Kowsars. Developed from the body of the Chinese HY-2 Silkworm, the Raad, however, has seen many improvements most prominently in the seeker and propulsion. The first of the changes include replacing the conical scanning radar and IR imaging with the "brains” of the Noor missile (DM-3B radar) with the end result that the missile becomes of skimming the sea at about 3-5 meters, compared to 8 of the HY-2, a substantial amount when considering a targets countermeasures. It also means that it will be capable of last minute evasive maneuvers and execute a ‘pop-up’ attack on the deck of the target. 

Raad ASM

 Although, they will be notably harder with a missile with the aerodynamics of the 3,000 kg missile compared to the 715 kg Noor. It undoubtedly presents other difficulties of meshing the two systems, but they have presumably been fixed due to successful tests. The second main alteration is engine. Public perception is that the Raad is powered by the Tolou-4, the same powerplant as in the Noor. However this is intuitively unlikely given that the Tolou-4 was designed to propel a much smaller (715 kg) missile. Another indicator is looking at the extremely prominent ducts on the Raad compared to the extremely recessed ducts on the Noor. Rather, the more likely candidate is the Tolou-5 upgrade which is described as being much more powerful then its predecessor, although it was only in the prototype stage in 2005, meaning it would have had to of progressed extremely fast for them to appear in the 2007 wargames.

Other then the above modifications, the Raad acts very much like the HY-2 from which it was derived, it is fired with the help of a solid rocket booster, quickly climbing to 1,000 meters, then descending to slightly less then 20 meters for cruising under inertial guidance. When, in terminal phase the active radar is switched on, and the missile descends to about 4 meters to skim the surface of the water and eventually strike the target. Packed with over 300 kg of high explosive in a shaped charge, it is designed for use against the massive destroyers of western fleets. (13) Meanwhile, the 360 km range would literally leaving no part of the gulf untouched.

• Range: 360 km
• Length: 7.48 m
• Missile Weight: 2,998 kg
• Warhead: 315 kg
• Speed: .8 mach
o Guidance: Inertial in cruise, DM-3BMonopulse active radar and possibly IR seeker in terminal.

Other missiles

Navigating Irans inventory of equipment is metaphorical minefield of what exists and what only exists as prototypes, and what is rhetoric. Consequently there are a few missiles which may or may not exist depending on whom you talk to. The biggest example of this is the anti-ship missile which was recently announced this month. It was announced by “experts from the Iranian Armed Forces in charge of the project” as an air-to-ship missile weighing 500 kg (presumably the whole missile, not just the warhead) and having a range of 110 km, and being radar guided. Whatever this missile is, its roughly in the same class as the Noor, although having shorter range. Some think it is just another test or variation of the Noor missile, but if this were true it would have to definitely another version due to the dramatic reduction in weight (change of 200 kg) with a similar reduction in range(change of 60 km). Logically it could just be the Noor with a smaller fuel load, leading to both a reduction in weight and range. The only purpose though would be more efficient transportation by the weapons carrying platform, most likely and F-4 or Su-24, although it could have been specifically designed for an F-5 as a normal Noor may have been thought to be too large.