VIGIL CONSILIUMSearch
Context. Not headlines.
Equipment catalogue · shared across conflicts

Naval vessel · Light frigate / corvette

Moudge-class frigates

The domestically built light frigates that carry the Artesh Navy's outward-facing role — the ships that make its long-range deployments and naval diplomacy possible — and the class most concerned by United States claims in March 2026 to have destroyed much of Iran's regular surface fleet.

MoudgeIranFirst unit commissioned 2010; further units through the 2020s

Status as of
2026-09
Last reviewed
2026-09-09

AssessmentModerate confidence

Recognition context, not a stat sheet. The catalogue covers major publicly documented systems relevant to the conflicts Vigil covers — not an exhaustive order of battle. No quantities, availability or current allocations are recorded.

The recordWhat this system is, where it comes from, who operates it and which of Vigil’s modules it is relevant to — with the evidence each of those rests on.

Documented in conflictEvidence: Documented
Silhouette · not to scale

Record

FamilyMoudge
VariantsJamaran; Damavand; Sahand; Dena; Talayieh
OriginIran
EraFirst unit commissioned 2010; further units through the 2020s
Appears inIran–Gulf 2026 war

Conflict relevance

This is the catalogue's single record for this system. It is relevant to the module below; each module's Force Atlas shows how it is used there.

Iran–Gulf · Force Atlas

Operators

Iran and the Gulf · Primary operator

Iran and the Gulf: The Artesh Navy's principal domestically built surface combatants.

Battlefield role

Surface warfare and presence beyond the strait; the conventional navy's means of behaving like a navy in the ordinary sense.

Strengths

Domestic construction of a class Iran could not import, anti-ship missile armament, and the reach for deployments as far as the Atlantic.

Limitations

Small, lightly built ships whose losses in accidents — one sank in port in 2018 and another in 2024 — say something about the industrial base; and the most easily targeted naval assets Iran holds in a war against a superior opponent. What survived March 2026 is not established. No hulls by status or dispositions are recorded.

Documented conflict use

Long-range deployments to the Red Sea, the Indian Ocean and beyond, published by Iran; United States strike claims of March 2026 are claims.

Branch & service operators

PartialConfidence: ModerateSources: IISS Military Balance↗ · Congressional Research Service — Iran, the Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz · Established international media reportingMethodologyCorrections

Assessed as of2026-09Last reviewed2026-09-09