Official Iranian sources stated that the missile’s range is 1,400 kilometers. Its speed before hitting the target reaches 13-15 times the speed of sound (Mach).
On Tuesday, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard unveiled a hypersonic ballistic missile, the first to be produced locally, in the presence of President Ebrahim Raisi, according to state television.
“The hypersonic missile, called Al-Fatah, was unveiled, the latest achievement of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards’ Aerospace Force, in the presence of President Ebrahim Raisi,” the television stated.
The official news agency (IRNA) published pictures of the ceremony, which took place in an unspecified closed place, and was attended by a number of military officials, including the head of the Revolutionary Guards, Major General Hussein Salami.
The agency stated that the missile “has a range of 1,400 km, and its speed before hitting the target is Mach 13-15.”
And the Islamic Republic announced last November that it had manufactured this missile, which raised the concern of the International Atomic Energy Agency about the Iranian nuclear program.
The Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael Grossi, has indicated that this declaration “should not affect” the negotiations between the major powers and Iran over its nuclear program. Negotiations have been deadlocked since the summer of 2022.
Unlike conventional ballistic missiles, hypersonic missiles fly at a low altitude in the atmosphere and can be controlled, making it difficult to predict their trajectory and intercept them.
And Russia, North Korea and the United States announced in 2021 that they had conducted tests of hypersonic missiles, which raised fears of a new arms race.
However, Russia appears to be advanced in this field, and announced in March 2022 that it had used hypersonic “Kinjal” missiles in the first weeks of the invasion of Ukraine, which began on February 24.
