Fattah-1
Fattah-1 is an Iranian medium-range ballistic missile developed by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and unveiled in June 2023. Iran has described the missile as "hypersonic", a description which has been noted as "dubious" by several media outlets including Calcalist, the Times of Israel and The Warzone; and by analyst Fabian Hinz as "obscur more than it illuminates." According to Iran, its high maneuverability and speed helps it to evade missile defense systems. In November 2023, Iran unveiled a newer version of the missile, Fattah-2.
Description
According to Iran, it can maneuver in and out of the atmosphere, and is capable of bypassing missile defenses. Iran describes it as a hypersonic missile. However, according to Fabian Hinz, research fellow for Defense and Military Analysis at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, Fattah does not fall under the general classification of hypersonic weapons, but is rather a medium-range ballistic missile that has a “second stage incorporates the warhead, aerodynamic controls and a small solid-propellant motor with a moveable nozzle for thrust vector control that resembles a maneuverable reentry vehicle " rather than a hypersonic glide vehicle, meaning it can only maneuver for a short part of the flight in the terminal phase. Hinz noted that “Iran attempted to overcome this limitation by mating a small TVC rocket motor to a MaRV, enabling exo-atmospheric maneuvering."Arash Marzbanmehr, a pro-IRGC military analyst, has defined Fattah and Kheibar Shekan missiles as near-hypersonic or quasi-hypersonic missiles.
History
On 10 November 2022, during the 11th anniversary of the death of Hassan Tehrani Moghaddam, known as the "father of Iranian missiles", Iran announced it has built an advanced hypersonic ballistic missile calling it a "major generational leap". Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh, IRGC Aerospace Force commander, said the missile has a high velocity and can maneuver below and above the Earth's atmosphere. He said "it can breach all the systems of anti-missile defence" and added that he believed it would take decades before a system capable of intercepting it is developed. The missile was unveiled in a ceremony on 6 June 2023.Iran may have used Fattah-1 missiles in its strikes against Israel on 1 October 2024, according to an analysis by The New York Times. According to Dr. Jeffrey Lewis, researchers from the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies have identified Fattah-1 debris from both the 1 October strikes as well as the April 2024 Iranian strikes against Israel.
On 18 June 2025, Iran claimed it had once again launched hypersonic missiles at Israel in a renewed round of overnight strikes.