In a tightly guarded revelation from inside China’s military-industrial complex, three senior radar technicians from the China Electronics Technology Group Corporation’s 14th Research Institute (CETC 14th Institute) and military officers were killed in Iran during recent U.S.-Israeli airstrikes targeting Iranian air defense assets.
A Canada-based Chinese national reveals the details of the efforts by the Chinese authorities to silence the relatives of the deceased Chinese military officers and radar engineers in Iran.
The deceased—two in their mid-40s and one in his 50s—were part of a longstanding Chinese technical support team deployed to maintain and operate exported Chinese radar systems critical to Iran’s attempts to detect stealth aircraft such as the American F-35. Sources familiar with the matter confirm the men had been responsible for long-term technical maintenance of these systems in Iran.
In a desperate attempt to conceal the leaks, yesterday, profiles of several top Chinese weapons scientists disappeared from the Chinese Academy of Engineering’s website.
Those removed include nuclear weapons expert Zhao Xiangeng, radar specialist Wu Manqing, and missile designer Wei Yiyin. No explanation has been given for the removals.
Zhao Xiangeng (former CAE Vice-President) led nuclear weapons development, Wu Manqing headed China’s top electronics conglomerate (CETC), and Wei Yiyin was a chief designer for the nation’s most advanced surface-to-air missiles.
Apart from the 50 CM-302 anti-ship missiles, the Islamic Republic received Chinese 6 HQ-16B surface-to-air missile systems, 1200 FN-6 MANPADS, 300 Sunflower-200 kamikaze drones, 3 HQ-9B anti-ballistic systems, 6 HQ-7AE, 4 YLC-9B radars, 3 Type 305A radars, 6 SLC-2 counter-battery radars, and 50 HQ-19 anti-satellite interceptor missiles, Reuters said.
The 14th Institute, headquartered in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, is widely regarded as the cradle of China’s radar development, particularly excelling in long-range and anti-stealth detection technologies. It forms the core of China’s radar industry and has supplied key equipment to Iran as part of deepening military-technical cooperation between Beijing and Tehran.
According to an informed insider with connections to radar research personnel, approximately 30 Chinese technical experts remain stationed in Iran across multiple institutes, including the 14th, 38th, and 22nd under CETC.
The three fatalities occurred amid a broader collapse of Iranian air defenses—bolstered by Chinese HQ-9B surface-to-air missiles and various radar arrays—during coordinated U.S.-Israeli operations that reportedly neutralized high-value targets, including command structures and radar installations.
Beijing has maintained strict silence on the losses, consistent with its pattern of concealing overseas military-technical casualties to avoid domestic backlash or international diplomatic fallout. The regime typically handles such incidents through large compensation packages to families—often in the range of ten to twenty million yuan (approximately $1.45 million–$2.89 million)—in exchange for silence. “Once the money is paid, the matter is closed,” the source noted. “The families wouldn’t dare make noise.”
No official confirmation has emerged from China’s foreign ministry, defense ministry, or state media. Public acknowledgment would expose the extent of Beijing’s direct involvement in propping up Iran’s military capabilities against Western forces—an involvement that goes far beyond arms sales to include on-site technical expertise for systems designed to counter U.S. stealth technology.
This incident highlights the risks Chinese personnel face as proxies in Tehran’s conflicts with the U.S. and Israel. While broader reports have circulated about Chinese military advisors suffering casualties in recent strikes (some unverified claims mention over ten), this is the first specific identification of personnel from China’s premier radar institute.
The deaths underscore Beijing’s deepening entanglement in the Middle East proxy wars, trading technical know-how for strategic influence while keeping its own citizens in harm’s way—and then burying the evidence with cash and censorship.
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