Fattah Hypersonic MRBM
Iranian state media published pictures of the missile named Fattah at a ceremony attended by President Ebrahim Raisi and commanders of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards Corps. "The precision-guided Fattah hypersonic missile has a range of 1,400 km and it is capable of penetrating all defence shields," Amirali Hajizadeh, the head of the Guards' aerospace force, was quoted as saying by Iranian state media.
Western military analysts say Iran sometimes exaggerates its missile capabilities. There is some gap between an inert trade-show display model of a rocket and an actual workable weapon system deployed in operational numbers. Presumably as of 2023 the "Fattah" was rather closer to the former than the later.
This missile design purports to have some ability to maneuver after boost (aerodynamically and by propulsive force), although commonly labeled ballistic missiles (i.e., medium-range ballistic missiles [MRBMs] or intermediate-range ballistic missiles [IRBMs]). Maneuvering systems operate in ways that may deviate significantly from ballistic trajectories. Of the nonballistic systems, post-boost aerodynamic and propulsive maneuvering capabilities may simply allow it to more precisely strike a target on a predictable parabolic ballistic trajectory.
Missile systems with payloads in this category combine the impulsive propulsion techniques with an aerodynamically maneuverable payload. Given the variety and inherent overlap of the maneuvering capabilities, conclusively identifying and characterizing missile systems with such payloads may be challenging. However, the purported capabilities of several missile threats indicate that such booster-delivered missile systems are both active and operational in other countries. Examples, those shown on parade include the Chinese medium-range DF-21D “carrier killer” anti-ship ballistic missile, operationally deployed with Chinese missile forces by 2012, and the intermediate-range DF-26, which has both precision land attack and anti-ship payloads.
The growing number of ballistic missile systems that reportedly have precision strike missions implies an ability to maneuver both with propulsive force and aerodynamically after boost to, at a minimum, ensure correction of any errors introduced during the boost phase of flight. As the ranges of precision strike ballistic missiles increase, so do the demands on payload maneuverability, particularly for systems intended to strike moving targets, such as naval vessels. The ability of MaRV-equipped MRBM and IRBM systems — like those now fielded by China, for example — to strike ships at sea likely requires propulsive trajectory adjustments while outside the atmosphere to account for the motion of the ship. Then MaRV aerodynamic maneuvers are required on reentry to guide the warhead the rest of the way to the target.
The use of a post-boost impulsive propulsion capability in the form of a small kick motor on the payload, for example, would enable potentially significant trajectory changes. The kick motor burn could occur in any direction at any time after the boost phase of flight, enabling a missile to fly a wide range of nonballistic trajectories to static or moving targets.
IRGC aerospace chief Amir Ali Hajizadeh announced news of the development of the hypersonic missile in November 2022 at an event marking the anniversary of the death of Hassan Tehrani Moghaddam, known as the father of Iranian missile technology. Moghaddam died after an explosion at a missile base in 2011, which also killed more than a dozen other IRGC members. The explosion was reported as an accident, but some Western media reported that Israel was behind it. In November 2022, Hajizadeh said the new missile represents a “generational leap” for Iranian missile technology as it can manoeuvre within and outside the earth’s atmosphere and penetrate any missile defence system.
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has chosen the name, they said, which roughly translates to “the opener” (of the gates of profit and sustenance: an attribute of God). Occupational noun, referring to people employed in doing something, derives from the root (f-t-?), associated with (fata?a, “to conquer”). One of the most beautiful names of God, meaning He who opens closed doors for His servants with regard to sustenance, goodness, mercy and truth. "He is God the Conqueror : One of the beautiful names of God, as He is the one who opens the doors of sustenance and mercy to His servants, and He is the Ruler." As in "The army conquered new countries: entered them, conquered them , that is, conquered them and ruled them by force." The name of a surah from the surahs of the Holy Qur’an, which is the first surah in the order of the Qur’an, Meccan, the number of its verses is seven.
Fatah is the Arabic reverse acronym for the National Liberation Movement, a secular nationalist organisation established by Yasser Arafat and fellow activists. Under Yasser Arafat, and after the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, Fatah became the dominant party in the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO).
State TV said Iran's Fattah missile can target "the enemy's advanced anti-missile systems and is a big generational leap in the field of missiles". Iran's state TV said "It can bypass the most advanced anti-ballistic missile systems of the United States and the Zionist regime, including Israel's Iron Dome". Fattah's top speed reached mach 14 levels (15,000km/h), it added. State media said the missile has a range of 1,400km (870 miles) and features a moveable secondary nozzle and employs solid propellants that allow for high manoeuvrability.
This missile with tactical capabilities, due to having a second-stage movable nozzle solid fuel propellant, has the ability to reach very high speeds and also perform various maneuvers inside and outside the earth's atmosphere in order to overcome all types of enemy air defense systems.
Despite U.S. and European opposition, the Islamic Republic said it will further develop its defensive missile programme. However, Following Tehran's unveiling of the "Fattah" hypersonic missile, foreign media began to reflect this news and provide explanations about the details of this missile. In a news report reflecting the unveiling ceremony of this missile and also the statements of IRGC Aerospace Force officials, Reuters wrote: Concerns about Iran's ballistic missiles , fueled the 2018 decision of Donald Trump, the president of the United States, to withdraw from the Tehran nuclear agreement known as the JCPOA.
Reflecting on the unveiling of the Fattah missile, the Jerusalem Post published a quote from Sardar Amir Ali Hajizadeh, commander of the IRGC Aerospace Force, and wrote that "the Fattah hypersonic missile can reach Israel within 400 seconds." Yavas News also reported on Iran's unveiling of Tehran's new generation missile. He wrote: hypersonic missiles are capable of flying at least five times faster than the speed of sound and in a winding path; A capability that makes it difficult to track it. Al-Arabiya covered this missile with the headline "Iran's unveiling of the first hypersonic missile known as Fatah" and wrote: The official publication of this news will probably intensify the West's concern about Tehran's missile capabilities.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Aerospace Force's hypersonic missile named "Fattah" was unveiled in the presence of Seyed Ebrahim Raisi, President, Major General Hossein Salami, IRGC Commander-in-Chief, and General Amir Ali Hajizadeh, IRGC Aerospace Force Commander, at the headquarters of this force. With the unveiling of this missile, Iran became one of the four countries with this technology.
Due to its technology, the Fattah missile has no anti-missile and cannot be destroyed by any missile due to its movement in different directions and heights. The speed of the Fattah missile is Mach 13, the range of this missile is 1400 km, which is Hit the target area accurately.
In the unveiling ceremony of Fattah hypersonic missile, President Seyed Ebrahim Raisi stated that the Fattah missile was built in the light of faith in God and collective efforts and is one of the components of authority. It does the work of basic science.
He added: In the imposed war, the situation was such that the leadership said, "They were raining missiles on Tehran, Dezful and Iranian cities, and we had no defense power, and we thought that we should move on our own and become independent in defense, military and Let's go with a rocket" and today we feel that this deterrent power has been created.
Raisi said that the Commander-in-Chief believed in this lofty idea that "we should empower ourselves" and continued: The way was to move towards becoming independent in the defense and missile industries.
Emphasizing that defense and missile industries have become indigenous in Iran and are not imports that can be pushed to the sidelines by threatening this advanced industry, Raisi said: Today we feel that this deterrent power has been created and this power and strength is a point of security for the countries of the region. And peace is lasting.
Sardar Amir Ali Hajizadeh, the commander of IRGC Aerospace Forces, emphasized that the missile activities were supported and approved by the Supreme Commander from the beginning, and said: When we presented the report of the construction of this missile to him, His Highness gave the name of Fatah to this missile. chose; The IRGC's cooperation with the government has never been as good as the current government's, so we are extremely grateful for the cooperation of the Ministry of Defense.
Sardar Hajizadeh said during the unveiling ceremony of the Fattah hypersonic missile: The missile that was unveiled today is a missile that is unique in the world, in a way that with the unveiling of this missile, Iran is among the four countries that have this missile. became technology; Due to its technology, the Fatah missile has no anti-missile, while there are anti-missiles for other weapons such as tanks, ships, airplanes, etc., and anti-missiles have even been made for other missiles.
He added: Of course, there is no such thing as a missile shield that is very successful; On the other hand, in order to hit one missile, three missiles must be fired, and this is despite the fact that the price of an anti-missile is approximately 20 times that of the target missile. It cannot be destroyed because the anti-missile missiles move according to a specific vector, which, of course, has a low speed.
Stating that the speed of the Fattah missile is Mach 13, he continued: It will be impossible to counter a missile with such a speed. The range of this missile is determined to be 1400 km, which accurately hits the target; Our activities in this field do not end with the construction of this missile because we will continue this path so that no enemy even imagines attacking Iran.
He pointed out: This new missile will pass through all missile defense systems and I don't think that technology will be found to be able to deal with it for decades. This missile targets the enemy's anti-missile systems and is a big generational leap in the field of missiles. This missile with tactical capabilities, due to having a second-stage movable nozzle solid fuel propellant, has the ability to reach very high speeds and also perform various maneuvers inside and outside the earth's atmosphere in order to overcome all types of enemy air defense systems.
Emphasizing that missile activities have been supported and approved by the Supreme Commander-in-Chief since the beginning, he said: When we submitted the report on the construction of this missile to him, His Highness chose the name Fatah for this missile. The IRGC's cooperation with the government has never been as good as the current government's, so we are extremely grateful for the cooperation of the Ministry of Defense.
Hypersonic missiles can fly at least five times faster than the speed of sound and on a complex trajectory, which makes them difficult to intercept. In 2022, the Islamic Republic said it had built a hypersonic ballistic missile which can manoeuvre in and out of the atmosphere.
Sardar Hajizadeh, the commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps' Aerospace Force, earlier said: Iranian hypersonic missiles will close the US arms shop. Hypersonic missiles can carry nuclear weapons in a complex trajectory at more than five times the speed of sound, making them difficult to intercept.
A supersonic intercontinental ballistic missile (also known as an ICBM) is a ballistic missile with a range of over 5,500 km (3,400 mi), designed primarily to carry special weapons (deliver one or more thermonuclear warheads). Conventional, chemical and biological weapons can also be delivered with varying effectiveness, but so far have never been deployed on ICBMs. Early intercontinental ballistic missiles had limited accuracy and were suitable for use against larger targets such as cities. Second and third generation designs (such as the LGM-118 Peacekeeper) dramatically improved accuracy to the point where even the smallest point targets could be successfully engaged.
Modern designs allow a missile to carry multiple warheads, each capable of hitting a different target. Russia, USA, China, India, North Korea and Iran are the only countries with operational supersonic intercontinental ballistic missiles.
Fattah-2 Hypersonic Cruise Missile
The range of the next version of the Iranian Fattah hypersonic ballistic missile will be extended to 2,000 kilometers, commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps Aerospace Force, who developed the missile, announced on 24 June 2023. The current version of the missile has a range of up to 1,400 kilometers, which means it can reach most U.S. bases in the Middle East as well as Israel from Iranian territory.Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh made the announcement while attending a ceremony in the northern province of Mazandaran. “Today, we have achieved all complex technologies in the field of the defense industry,” the commander said during the ceremony, according to the semi-official Tasnim News Agency. Brig. Gen Hajizadeh also said that the Iranian people will hear more good news in the field of the country’s missile power in the near future.
Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) unveiled the homegrown Fattah-2 hypersonic missile as well as other new military achievements. The missile was unveiled during an exhibition showcasing the latest achievements of the IRGC Aerospace Force at the Ashura Aerospace University of Science & Technology on 19 November 2023. Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei toured the exhibition. In addition to the “Fattah-2” hypersonic cruise missile, “Mehran” mobile defense system, “9th of Dey” upgraded system, and “Shahed-147” drone were unveiled during the visit.
The exhibition, which included missile, drone, defense and space sections, featured new and updated achievements of the young scientists and specialists of the IRGC Aerospace Force under the title “From Idea to All-Iranian Product.”
The three European countries claimed in their joint statement: "The troika of Europe - France, Germany and the United Kingdom - condemns the unveiling of a new version of the new ballistic missiles by Iran on November 19." England, France and Germany have also acknowledged the end of international restrictions against Iran's missile program in the next paragraph of this implied statement. In their previous statements issued against Iran's missile program before 26 Mehrmah (October 18), the European Troika usually claimed that Iran's missile activities were inconsistent with Security Council Resolution 2231.
Despite this, in the part of today's statement that condemns the development of Iran's missile program, the three European countries called what they called "Iran's disregard for international restrictions" related to the "past several years" and hinted that the development of this program is currently They have not contradicted the UN resolution.
This part of the statement reads: "The troika of Europe - France, Germany and the United Kingdom condemns the unveiling of a new type of ballistic missile by Iran on November 19. Iran continues to develop its missile program despite repeated international calls to halt its missile program and after years of ignoring UN restrictions. In addition, while the three European countries in their previous statements used the provisions of Resolution 2231 as the basis for their request to stop Iran's missile program, in today's statement they have used "repeated international requests" as the basis for their request. The non-binding restrictions of UN Security Council Resolution 2231 on Iran's ballistic missile program ended on October 26 of this year (corresponding to October 18, 2023).
The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps Aerospace Force unveiled a new version of the ‘Fattah’ ballistic missile equipped with a hypersonic glide vehicle (HGV) warhead. The sophisticated homegrown missile was put on display during a visit that Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei, the Commander-in-Chief of the Iranian Armed Forces, paid to an exhibition of achievements of the IRGC Aerospace Force in Tehran on 17 March 2024.
The first version of Fattah with a range of 1,400 kilometers was unveiled in June 2023. The warhead of Fattah-I has a spherical engine running on solid fuel with a movable nozzle that allows the missile to move in all directions. Fattah-II, however, has been furnished with an HGV warhead that can maneuver and glide at hypersonic speed.
The Fattah-2 missile consists of two parts. The first part is the Fattah solid fuel booster, which has not changed from the initial version. The second part is the gliding warhead, which separates from the booster and has a liquid fuel rocket engine. The overall shape of the Fattah-2 gliding warhead is very similar to the Boeing X-51 missile, but with the difference that its air intake has been eliminated and a rocket engine is used instead of a ramjet engine.
The acronym HCM, which stands for Hypersonic Cruise Missile, is written on its nose cone. The shape and combination of the nose cone is similar to the X-51 hypersonic cruise missile. However, the X-51 missile uses a ramjet engine that requires air intake, whereas in the Fattah-2 missile, air intake and ramjet engines are removed, and instead, a liquid fuel rocket engine is used. This will not affect the missile’s performance.
An HGV warhead allows the ballistic missile to significantly change its trajectory after launch. The glide vehicle can reach a speed of Mach 5 to 20, depending on its design and utility. Conventional ballistic missiles follow a predictable ballistic trajectory and are vulnerable to air defense systems. The in-flight maneuverability of HGVs makes them unpredictable, allowing them to effectively evade air defenses.
The explosive material is located at the beginning of the warhead, followed by an inertial guidance and GPS system along with a computer that is responsible for guiding the warhead to the final stage of impact. After the guidance system, there is a detonator container (yellow piece), followed by a liquid fuel tank and an oxidizer tank, and finally a rocket engine that appears to have the ability to change the missile’s trajectory.
The solid fuel booster of the Fattah-2 missile carries it to a certain altitude from space, and then the warhead separates from it and moves towards the atmosphere. In this state, the missile will travel at a fast falling rate until it reaches the atmosphere, and then, like an HGV (Hypersonic Glide Vehicle), it will glide to the ground in the atmosphere at an altitude of less than 100 kilometers. Considering the high speed announced for the Fattah booster in Fattah-1, it must be more than Mach 15 at the time of entering the atmosphere. Therefore, due to the high lift force of the Fattah-2 warhead, it must spend a considerable amount of time gliding in the atmosphere and continuously reduce its altitude.In a part of the middle stage and at the end of the warhead, it drastically reduces its altitude and its speed also decreases. In this stage, the rocket engine embedded in the warhead turns on and stabilizes the warhead’s speed at Mach 5 or higher.
The Fattah-2 warhead spends a lot of time at low altitudes and will cruise through the final stage of its path like cruise missiles thanks to its engine. A significant point is the amount of drag force and tolerance for high-speed entry into the atmosphere because aerodynamically, the warhead is not designed for such speeds.Conventional designs of hypersonic cruise missiles use a booster for initial speed and a ramjet engine for further movement along their path, and they are often launched from aircraft. These engines have a risk of reducing their speed to less than Mach 5 at their maximum range due to fuel shortages. However, Fattah-2 uses a solid fuel ballistic missile booster for movement in a part of its path and reaching an initial speed of more than Mach 15, which provides the missile with a considerable speed for a long time.
Then, at the end of its path or near the point of impact, it uses an engine to compensate for the speed reduction and stabilize its speed at Mach 5. This is an interesting and very creative idea that has been implemented by Iranian experts. This initiative eliminates the limitations of HGVs for the Aerospace Force of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC).
Unlike conventional HGV versions, the Fattah-2 warhead is more suitable for flying at low altitudes. Most HGVs travel much of their path at an altitude of less than 100 kilometers and more than 30 kilometers, where air density is lower. However, the Fattah missile can fly in an altitude of less than 12 kilometers due to its aerodynamic shape, but it seems to try to maintain itself at an altitude between 12 and 30 kilometers to experience less speed reduction. Overall, the Fattah-2 missile is more of a hypersonic glide vehicle than a hypersonic cruise missile. However, its performance includes both types of hypersonic missiles.
It can be said that the operation of the Fattah-2 missile is a completely unconventional definition compared to other conventional hypersonic missiles, and the Fattah-2 missile has created a new classification and standard in this field: Hypersonic Cruise Glide Vehicle (HCGV).
It should be mentioned that the feature of not using a ramjet engine does not exclude this warhead from the hypersonic category. Also, using a rocket to start flight and fly into space cannot prevent the cruise flight of intermediate and final stages. Iran’s technology in making ramjet engines for use in long-range hypersonic weapons has not yet reached its final evolution. Therefore, having all the components available and the ability to mass-produce Fattah-2 is a suitable and creative solution to overcome the current technological gap. Clearly, this technological bottleneck will also be resolved in the near future.
| Specifications | Fattah-2 hypersonic missile: |
| Type | Hypersonic Glide Vehicle (HGV) |
| Country of Origin | Iran |
| Producer | IRGC Aerospace Force |
| Unveiled | 2023 |
| Length | ~ 12 meters |
| Diameter | 80 cm first part, 50 cm second part |
| Fuel | |
| First stage | solid |
| Second stage | liquid |
| Range | more than 1400 km |
| Speed | ~ Mach 5 (in the last phase), ~ Mach 15 (in the first phase) |
| Weight | 3500 to 4100 kg |
| Warhead | ~ 500 kg |
| Explosives weight | ~ 200 kg |
| Guidance | combination of INS and GPS |
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