Iran unveiled its first hypersonic weapon called the Fattah

Earlier today, Iran unveiled what it claims is its first hypersonic weapon called the “Fattah,” or “Conqueror” in Farsi. The system appears to consist of a solid-fuel ballistic missile first stage and a rocket powered maneuverable reentry vehicle (MaRV), which Iranian state media claims has a range of 1,400km with a max speed of Mach 15. As a explain in every hypersonic weapons post, there is this notion that in order to be a hypersonic weapon, it just needs to travel at or in excess of Mach 5, which is 3,800 miles per hour, however, this is really not the case. The definition of hypersonic weapons nowadays has two criteria, which is that it must travel at or over Mach 5 AND that it must also be maneuverable (both vertically and horizontally) within the atmosphere. So with that being said, there are hypersonic weapons and then there are weapons that move at hypersonic speeds. The latter have been around for many decades and a perfect example would be most standard intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs). The reason why most missiles are not considered “hypersonic weapons” is because missiles follow a predetermined, arched trajectory and lack maneuverability within the atmosphere.