Iran unveiled its first domestically-made hypersonic ballistic missile on Tuesday, reported Reuters. The officials said that the missile is capable of travelling at 15 times the speed of sound. According to the state media, the missile is called Fattah, or “Conqueror” in Farsi and has a range of up to 1,400 kilometres. As per Associated Press, the report also claimed the missile could pass through any regional missile defence system, though it offered no evidence to support the claim.
Iranian state media published pictures of the missile at a ceremony attended by President Ebrahim Rahisi and commanders of Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards Corps. “The precision-guided Fattah hypersonic missile has a range of 1,400 km and it is capable of penetrating all defence shields,” Amirali Hajizadeh, the head of the Guards’ aerospace force, was quoted as saying by Iranian state media.
The domestically-developed hypersonic missile “Fattah”, #Iran IRGC’s most recent achievement, was unveiled on Tuesday morning (June 6) in the presence of President Ebrahim Raisi. pic.twitter.com/wzwUTRR3ez
— IRNA News Agency (@IrnaEnglish) June 6, 2023
In November, Gen Amir Ali Hajizadeh claimed that Iran had created a hypersonic missile, without presenting any evidence to suggest the same. This came at a time when there were nationwide protests following the death of Mahsa Amini, the 22-year-old woman who died after she was arrested by the country’s “morality police”.
“The precision-guided Fattah hypersonic missile has a range of 1,400 km and it is capable of penetrating all defence shields,” Amirali Hajizadeh, the head of the Guards’ aerospace force, was quoted as saying by Iranian state media.
Hypersonic weapons, which fly at speeds in excess of Mach 5, or five times the speed of sound, could pose crucial challenges to missile defence systems because of their speed and manoeuvrability.
China is believed to be pursuing the weapons, as is the US. Russia claims to already be fielding the weapons and has said it has used them on the battlefield in Ukraine.
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