missile fattah

What is the Fattah hypersonic missile, how is it made and how fast is Iran’s flagship weapon

On the night between October 1st and 2nd, Iran launched a massive offensive against Israel in response to the killing of Hassan Nasrallahleader of Hamas, which occurred last September 27 during an Israeli raid on Beirut, and of Ismail Haniyeh, political leader of Hamas, killed in Tehran in an unclaimed attack although attributable to Israel. The attack was conducted with the launch of approx 200 missilespartly intercepted and destroyed by the Israeli defense system Iron Dome (which intercepts short-range missiles) and by US naval units in the Mediterranean. Most of the missiles were intercepted and destroyed, but some hit, causing damage and one casualty in the city of Jericho. Iranian media announced that it had also used the hypersonic missile in the attack Fattahone of the flagship weapons of the Iranian army. At the moment, however, despite the spread of the news, there still appears to be insufficient evidence to accredit the use of these missiles.

What is the Fattah hypersonic missile: the technical characteristics

The name Fattah, chosen by the Iranians to name the flagship weapon of their army, originates from one of the 99 names of Allah in Islamic theology. Al-Fattah, in fact, means the openerthe one who brings victory. The Fattah missile, presented in June 2023, when it was the then Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi, in the presence of the press and military leaders, who announced the entry into service of one of the Iranian army’s flagship systems. The main feature of the Fattah, which makes it interesting and fearsome at the same time, is its ability to reach speed very high, which makes it extremely difficult to intercept And destroy it. The Fattah, in fact, belongs to the category of defined missiles hypersonic, that is, capable of overcome beyond 5 times the speed of sound, in jargon mach 5that is, approximately 6174 km/h!

According to information officially provided by Iranian state media, the Fattah is capable of reaching a speed of between mach 13 (approximately 16,000 km/h) e mach 15 (approximately 18,500 km/h), with an operational range of 1,400 km. In addition to these peculiarities, its war head can also be armed with nuclear warheads. In order to reach those extreme speeds, the missile uses a propellant engine solidnecessary to support the acceleration phase. Unlike liquid fuel engines, in which they are stored in tanks separated fuel and oxidizer, the Fattah uses a fuel that contains, in a compact mixture, both components of the propellant.

The advantages of the Fattah missile

Between the advantages that can be obtained thanks to the use of this technology there is the possibility of realizing mechanically less complex engines. Furthermore, it is possible to store the solid fuel in the tank for longer times than that expected for liquid fuels. In this way it is always possible to be able to count on a missile ready for launch and consequently, for more operational readiness, definitely useful feature for military use cases.

In addition to the first stage engine, Fattah is equipped with an engine secondary and aerodynamic control surfaces – small wings – useful for maneuvering the missile during flight: all this allows the Fattah to make sudden and unpredictable changes in trajectory during hypersonic flight. Own the latter aspect, it would represent the fundamental characteristic of the Fattah: it is the maneuverability at hypersonic speed making it extremely difficult to intercept with anti-missile defense systems. Therefore, if this information provided by the Iranian press offices were actually confirmed (and the Fattah missile was already fully operational), then it would represent a tool with which Iran could overcome the air defenses of neighboring countries by hitting their targets quickly, precisely and effectively. .

Skepticism about the use of the hypersonic missile

The skepticism that has circulated among analysts regarding the actual use of the Fattah in the attack of 1 and 2 October is linked to some considerations: beyond the purely propaganda aspect, the use of such an important weapon in a preliminary phase of the conflict, when the real state of readiness is not yet clear, is not plausible. Furthermore, using such an important weapon in an unthoughtful way would end up providing important information to the Jewish state about Iranian technology and its level of maturity.

Open source media – Fattah