Fattah hypersonic missile, the latest in a line of IRGC strategic achievements, was put to show on Tuesday in a ceremony attended by President Sayyed Ibrahim Raeisi, IRGC commander General Hussein Salami, and the IRGC’s Aerospace Force commander General Amirali Hajizadeh.
It was in November last year that General Hajizadeh on the sidelines of anniversary of General Hassan Tehrani Moghadam, the ‘father of Iran's missile technology’, broke the news about Iran developing a hypersonic missile, adding that the weapon could maneuver in inner and outer spaces.
“This missile can penetrate defense shields and I do not think that a technology will be developed in the tens of years to come to counter it,” the general said of the domestically-developed game-changing weapon, adding:” This missile targets enemy air defense systems and marks a big generational breakthrough in missile technology.”
Capabilities of Fattah
The hypersonic missile, which is currently considered one of the most powerful missiles developed globally, has many capabilities that allow its owners to eliminate threats to their territories. Fattah missile also has unique features that make Iran head and shoulders above other military powers in the region.
In the unveiling ceremony, General Hajizadeh said: “The missile that was unveiled today is unique in the world. With the unveiling of this missile, Iran became one of four countries with this technology.... Due to the technology of the Fattah missile, there is no anti-missile system countering it. While there are counter-weapons for other weapons such as tanks, ships, planes, Fattah missile cannot be destroyed by any missile due to its movement in different directions and heights. The anti-missile weapons move according to a certain vector, which, of course, have lower speed than that of a hypersonic missile.”
Pointing out that the speed of the Iranian hypersonic missile is mach 13, the general noted: “A missile with such speed is impossible to counter. Also, the range of this missile has been determined to be 1,400 kilometers and it accurately hits the target. Our activities in this area do not end with the production of this missile, because we will continue on this path so that no enemy even imagines attacking Iran.”
It is noteworthy that mach 1 equals a speed of 1234 kilometers per hour, which is called the sonic speed. Therefore, Fattah can be fired at the enemy target with a speed 13 times faster than sonic speed.
Also, decades of technology guarantee, use of new generation of solid fuel, and conical warhead are other features of the newly-unveiled missile. Due to having a solid fuel propellant with a moving nozzle of the second stage, it has the ability to reach very high speeds and perform various maneuvers in outer and inner spaces in order to weather all types of enemy air defense systems. The most advanced US anti-ballistic systems, including THAAD, Patriot, and Aegis and all their Israeli counterparts, including the Iron Dome, David's Sling, Arow, and Barak, are actionless against Fattah's hypersonic missile.
The hypersonic missiles fly five times faster than the speed of sound and have complex and different flight paths and are considered a serious threat, and these features make it difficult to intercept them. Given these features, the new missile is a worrying threat to enemies of Iran.
Last year, when Iran talked about its hypersonic technology, the US and Europe claimed Tehran could not develop hypersonic technology and that it was bluffing to send a message to the Israeli regime and Arab countries that if it wishes to take action against them, it has powerful missiles with which it can retaliate. But the missile unveiling proved that Iran's promise was not empty and the world should accept the Islamic Republic’s power.
Currently, only Russia, China, and the US have the technology for production of cruise and ballistic missiles, and Iran is the fourth country with such capabilities. This is a triumph to the Islamic Republic that is facing heavy political and media pressures by the West and its minions in the region.
Hypersonic missiles are so capable that they can change the balance of war. Hypersonic is a missile or projectile that moves at a speed of 5 to 25 times the speed of sound, and at these speeds, the projectile travels between 2 and 8 kilometers in just one second.
Improving the country’s deterrence
In recent years, Iran has made substantial progress in the missile production, and from the long-range missiles to the recent hypersonic missile all bear a proof that Tehran has developed completely domestic arms competitive to the foreign versions thanks to its scientists despite being under massive Western sanctions.
Iran has so far kept range of its missiles 2,000 kilometers and this range is set in accordance with the nation's defensive strategy and, indeed, its scientists are capable of manufacturing any missiles in a short time if they wish. In other words, as the level of threats against Iran's national interests increases, Iran's deterrence capability against the enemy will increase to the same extent.
Since last decade, Iran has managed to create balance of power in the region with its missiles, and developing hypersonic missiles will increase this deterrence several folds.
In recent months, American officials have repeatedly admitted that Iran's missile and drone power is a serious threat to the West and the security of the Israeli regime, as the Islamic Republic has shown that it has extensive capabilities in the military field enabling it to produce any weapons depending on the type and level of threats.
New nightmare for Tel Aviv and Washington
Iran unveiled its hypersonic missile as in recent months the American and Israeli threats against its territorial integrity have increased. To put it differently, the unveiling is a warning to the enemies that from now on, they should consider all aspects in any actions against Tehran.
These days, the Israeli leaders are talking about a possible attack on Iran's nuclear facilities, but the hypersonic missile warns the hardliners in the Israeli cabinet that if they make a mistake, within a few minutes, all the occupied territories will be targeted with hypersonic missiles non-interceptible by neither of Israeli air defenses.
In the past two decades, Tel Aviv tried to hinder Iran's scientific progress by assassinating its scientists and carrying out acts of sabotage in nuclear facilities, but hypersonic missile production rendered these plots ineffective. Given the characteristics of this missile, including its supersonic speed and its undetectability, from now on the Israeli officials cannot claim that Israeli regime is immune to Iranian missiles and all missile systems in the occupied territories will be paralyzed by Fattah missile.
Undoubtedly, any Iranian deterrence capability primarily serves its security and territorial integrity against foreign threats, especially from the Israeli side, and hypersonic development is no exception. That these missiles can reach the Israeli regime in less than 10 minutes represents a horrible nightmare to the Israeli leaders who have nothing to neutralize this terrifying weapon. In addition to impairing the Israeli security wall, this issue empties the Israeli hands in behind-the-scenes negotiations with the Arab countries for normalization. After all, one of the main trump cards of Tel Aviv to convince the Arab leaders to join normalization process was to help them enhance their defense capabilities and now it becomes obvious to the Arab leaders that the Israeli regime cannot even protect its own security.
Washington and Tel Aviv had plans to develop an integrated regional air defense system with Arab finances to counter the missile and drone capabilities of Iran-led Axis of Resistance, but Fattah missile will practically render their project doomed.
Iran among arms exporters?
Over the past four decades, the US, though expansive sanctions, has tried to put Iran in a condition it cannot even produce even a bullet at home. But now in addition to meeting its own needs, Iran is capable of exporting arms.
On October 18, 2020, according to the terms of resolution 2231 of the UN Security Council, all the arms embargo against Iran were revoked. According to the nuclear agreement, all sanctions and restrictions on Iran's missile program will end in October and Iran can sign arms deals unrestricted.
Since the start of Ukraine war, Western media have highlighted in an exaggerated way the use of the Iranian drones and missiles by Russia in order to negatively impact Moscow-Tehran economic and transit cooperation that effectively neutralizes the Western sanctions on the two countries. This comes while Iranian officials categorically deny any involvement in the war and underscore the country’s policy of neutrality. However, this Western media propaganda is an unwanted admission of high capability of Iranian defense products, specifically drones and missiles that before this were downplayed and dismissed.
This issue certainly makes international buyers lean to Iranian weapons and this allows Iran to seriously step in the highly large and lucrative world arms market. This has seriously worried the White House officials who have been rushing recently to block revocation of Iran's arms restrictions in the future.
In general, the more the US and its pawns struggle to derail Iran's
defense capabilities, the stronger grows the determination of the
Iranian armed forces to strengthen their defense base. Production of
hypersonic missiles, likewise, shattered all of the enemy's plans to
deal a blow to Iranian territorial integrity, and this path of
development will continue resolutely.
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