Iran unveiled on Sunday a newer version of what it claims is a hypersonic missile capable of maneuvering at high speeds to evade air defense systems.
The Fattah II missile was put on display at Ashura Aerospace Science and Technology University, a division of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in Tehran. Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei visited the site to review an exhibition of new weapons systems, among them the Fattah II.
The display came as Israel has recently intercepted a number of ballistic missiles fired at it by Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen. The Israel Defense Forces said the long-range Arrow air defense system had been used to shoot down some of the missiles.
Iran announced an earlier version of the Fattah — “Conqueror” in Persian — in June, saying at the time that it was capable of traveling at 15 times the speed of sound.
The Fattah II also reaches those speeds but is fitted with a hypersonic glide vehicle (HGV), according to local media reports. The HGV detaches from the missile and then glides at hypersonic speed to its target while being able to make relatively sharp maneuvers to avoid ballistic missile defenses.
Iran did not release any video of the Fattah II being fired and media reports did not say if the new missile has an improved range over the 1,400 kilometers already cited for its earlier version.
That’s about mid-range for Iran’s expansive ballistic missile arsenal, which the IRGC has built up over the years as Western sanctions largely prevent it from accessing advanced weaponry.
That range, however, depends on how maneuverable the missile is. Ballistic missiles fly on a trajectory in which anti-missile systems like the Arrow and Patriot can anticipate their path and intercept them. The more irregular the missile’s flight path, the more difficult it becomes to intercept, but the shorter its overall range.
