Missile Qaem
Iranian short-range surface-to-air missile derived from the Toophan anti-tank weapon, in mass production since 2010 against drones and low-flying helicopters.
| Flight altitude | 2,000 m (6,562 ft) |
| Range | 6.0 km (3.7 mi) |
Description
The Qaem is an Iranian short-range, low-altitude surface-to-air missile developed from the Toophan, itself an unlicensed derivative of the American BGM-71 TOW anti-tank missile. It entered mass production in 2010.
The weapon rides a laser beam under SACLOS guidance, a scheme that gives it useful resistance to electronic countermeasures at the cost of requiring the operator to keep the target tracked throughout the engagement. Range is roughly six kilometres and engagement altitude about two thousand metres, which restricts it to drones, helicopters and other slow, low-flying targets rather than fast jets. A variant designated Qaem-M adds a proximity fuse, improving lethality against small unmanned aircraft that a contact fuse would often miss.
Systems of this class carried much of the burden of Iranian point defence during the 2026 war, when short-range weapons around protected sites accounted for a large share of the Israeli and American unmanned aircraft brought down.