The Revolutionary Guards announced that they had used the supersonic “Fattah” ballistic missile in strikes against Israel.
This ballistic missile model would have a range of 1,400 km and could reach a speed of 18,500 kilometers per hour.
Follow the full coverage
Israel and Hamas at war
This is a new ace up the sleeve of the Revolutionary Guards. Tehran says it launched as many as 200 missiles against Israel (new window)including for the first time several hypersonic missiles, during its attack Tuesday evening. In June 2023, Iran unveiled its latest generation of hypersonic ballistic missile (new window)called “Fattah” (“victorious”, in Arabic). The president at the time, Ebrahim Raïssi, who has since died in a helicopter accident, said that this weapon would strengthen the “power of deterrence“from Iran and would bring”peace and stability to the countries of the region“.
Developed within the Revolutionary Guards Aerospace Force, this medium-range ballistic hypersonic missile can reach a target up to a distance of 1,400 kilometers. Its speed before reaching the target is between Mach 13 and Mach 15 (or between 16,000 and 18,500 kilometers per hour), which allows it to escape the most sophisticated air defense systems, according to reports. military sources cited by Irna, the Press Agency of the Islamic Republic.
What is a ballistic missile?
Ballistic missiles come in different classes. That of Iran belongs to the so-called medium range range (MRBM), which can travel between 1000 and 2400 km. Those of the intermediate range (IRBM) have a range of between 2,400 km to 6,400 km, while so-called intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM) can hit a target at a distance of more than 5,500 kilometers. The latter are generally designed to carry nuclear charges. The growing effectiveness of anti-missile defense systems is pushing powers to develop ever faster weapons with unpredictable trajectories to thwart defenses.
-
Read also
LIVE – Escalation in the Middle East: Hezbollah announces new battles against “infiltrated” Israeli forces
Concretely, the hypersonic threshold allows the missile to travel at least 100 km per minute, or five times the speed of sound. Unlike a conventional ballistic missile, whose trajectory is predictable, hypersonic missiles can perform maneuvers in mid-flight, making them difficult to track and intercept. They are propelled by a rocket engine at the start of their flight, then reach space (100 km altitude) in which they complete most of their trajectory, before re-entering the atmosphere to strike their target. As a result, the defender only has a few seconds to intercept it.
