Iran is now using Mach 14 missiles. [View all]

[vanessa_ca]

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Edit to add, that Engels did not specifically mention hypersonic, so I find that tweet a bit misleading.

They allegedly damaged Al-Udayri base, a US strategic helicopter base, a logistic support base, and a power station in Israel. Allegedly.

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The following is from an Iranian source so do with it what you will. I can't vouch for anything, but prefer not to wait for Bari Weiss and other MSM to trickle down whatever our government wants.

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Editing to add this recent article from March

Iranian sources on February 28 released footage of the launch of the Fattah ballistic missile, which integrates a next generation manoeuvring re-entry vehicle to effectively evade missile defences. This was followed by the reported first ever launch of the Fattah-2, a heavily enhanced successor to the missile, on March 1. The Fattah-2 missile uses a hypersonic glide vehicle rather than a usual ballistic missile reentry vehicle, allowing it to manoeuvre in both pitch and yaw, to maintain far higher reentry speeds, and to approach targets from unexpected directions. Such missiles can sustain atmospheric skip-glide or shallow glide flight at hypersonic speeds. The missiles were launched following the initiation of coordinated large-scale military assault against Iran by the United States and Israel, which has seen multiple high value targets including key leadership figures targeted, and the country’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei killed.



While the large majority of ballistic missiles launched are reported by Iranian sources to have been lower value missile types, which may be intended to depleted hostile missile defences in the conflict’s earlier stages, higher value missiles like the Fattah and Fattah-2 may have been launched to neutralise high value targets that it is seen as important to destroy early on, such as the missile defence radar destroyed in Qatar. Their use may also serve as an important show of force regarding the room the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps retains for escalation. While the U.S. has suffered from severe shortages of anti-ballistic missiles for its Patriot and THAAD missile defence systems, however, it remains highly uncertain in what quantities the Fattah and Fattah-2 have been brought into service, with the latter in particular estimated to cost several times as much as older ballistic missile types such as the Khorramshahr.

Iran was reported to have first obtained manoeuvrable reentry vehicle technologies from North Korea in the 1990s, with such vehicles having also been sold to Syria that decade for its Hwasong-9 ballistic missiles, providing countermeasures against interception by Israel’s newly supplied Patriot air defence systems. North Korea began flight testing of hypersonic glide vehicles in September 2021, and reached a landmark in 2024 with the service entry of the Hwasong-16B intermediate range ballistic missile which integrates such vehicles. It has been speculated that Iran may have either jointly developed these technologies, or purchased them from North Korea. Although adversary missile defences, most notably the Patriot system, have proven to be far from reliable, the much improved penetrative capabilities of the Fattah and Fattah-2 are nevertheless game changers for Iran’s offensive potential.

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The Fattah’s ability to maintain controlled manoeuvrability inside the atmosphere seriously complicates possible interception efforts using systems such as the Israeli Arrow and U.S. Army THAAD. The missile has a reported 1,400 kilometre range, and according to Iranian sources uses a hypersonic glide vehicle to achieve a terminal speed of Mach 13 to Mach 15. Its combination of speed and manoeuvrability make it nearly impossible to intercept. Leading technological challenges in moving from manoeuvrable reentry vehicles to hypersonic glide vehicles include enduring skin temperatures exceeding 2,000 degrees celsius, avoiding the extreme cracking of composite materials, and maintaining stable control despite ablative erosion. Extremely accurate inertial systems, and pre-loaded terrain and trajectory shaping, are also vital. Both the Fattah and the Fattah-2 have been assessed to have significantly complicated Western and Israeli missile defence planning.

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Iran Launches First Ever Hypersonic Glide Vehicle Strike: New Fattah-2 Missile Revolutionises Arsenal’s Potential


This is from Feb 28 this year

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