DUBAI (AP) – Iran claimed yesterday that it had created a hypersonic missile capable of travelling at 15 times the speed of sound.
Iran’s state television reported that the missile – called Fattah, or ‘Conqueror’ in Farsi – had a range of up to 1,400 kilometres.
The report also claimed the missile could pass through any regional missile defence system, though it offered no evidence to support the claim.
The TV broadcast what appeared to be a model of the missile being unveiled by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, a paramilitary organisation in the Islamic Republic, before President Ebrahim Raisi. The Guard already has a vast arsenal of ballistic missiles.
In November, General Amir Ali Hajizadeh of the Revolutionary Guard claimed that Iran had created a hypersonic missile, without offering evidence to support it.
That claim came during the nationwide protests that followed the September death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini after her arrest by the country’s morality police.
Hypersonic weapons, which fly at speeds in excess of Mach 5, or five times the speed of sound, could pose crucial challenges to missile defence systems because of their speed and manoeuvrability.
