Iran Launches First Strike on Israel Using Mach 13+ Fattah Hypersonic Missile: Can it Turn the Tide of the War?

The Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps on June 18 announced that&nbsp;the country’s first class of hypersonic ballistic missile, the Fattah, had been used to engage Israeli targets in the early hours of the day. The Corps reported that the missile proved capable of penetrating Israel’s multi-layered air defence network, and was fired as part of the eleventh wave of strikes under Operation True Promise III. The operation was launched in response to Israeli air attacks on a wide range of Iranian military and civilian targets in the early hours of June 13, which saw both countries launch multiple waves of retaliatory attacks against one another. The Revolutionary Guard, which operations Iran’s ballistic missile arsenal, stated that employment of the Fattah marked “the beginning of the end” for Israel’s “mythical” missile defences. “The powerful and highly manoeuvrable Fattah missiles repeatedly shook the shelters of the cowardly Zionists tonight, sending a clear message of Iran’s strength to Tel Aviv’s warmongering ally, which continues to dwell in delusions and false assumptions,” the Corps claimed, stating that the new missile class left Israel defenceless against its precision strikes.<img src="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/m/articles/2025/06/18/article_6852d53a29f676_42198491.PNG" title="Surface-to-Air Missile Battery From Israeli Barak 8 Anti-Missile System"><a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/iran-hypersonic-glider-nkorean-tech" target="_blank">Unveiled in June 2023</a>, the Fattah has a 1400 kilometre range, and according to Iranian sources uses a hypersonic glide vehicle to achieve a terminal speed of Mach 13 to Mach 15. Its combination of speed and manoeuvrability make it nearly impossible to intercept. Hypersonic glide vehicles were <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/russia-s-revolutionary-avaangard-hypersonic-glide-vehicle-enters-frontline-service" target="_blank">first operationalised</a> by the Russian Armed Forces near the end of the 2010s, with China and North Korea having subsequently brought their own glide vehicle equipped missiles into service followed by Iran. After North Korea&nbsp;<a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/north-korea-hypersonic-glide-vehicle">first flight tested</a>&nbsp;a ballistic missile with a hypersonic glide vehicle in September 2021, the Hwasong-8 with an estimated 1800km range, it was speculated that Pyongyang could quickly transfer key technologies to Iran’s defence sector. The Iranian ballistic missile arsenal has its origins in procurements from the East Asian state in the 1980s, and has benefitted from supplies of components, technologies, and expertise over several decades since then. With Israeli air defences have <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/yemen-strike-israeli-defences-fail" target="_blank">struggled to intercept</a> attacks launched using much simpler ballistic missile classes, including relatively basic missile designs built in Yemen, their viability against more advanced missile classes has long been in serious question. Hypersonic glide vehicles represent one of the most challenge targets an air defence network can face.&nbsp;<img src="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/m/articles/2025/06/18/article_6852d4f8e42584_64983278.png" title="North Korean Hwasong-16B Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile with Hypersonic Glide Vehicle">A primary shortcoming of the Iranian hypersonic missile arsenal is that it lacks nuclear or chemical warheads, which limits the damage that can be caused by a single strike. It also remains uncertain how large Iran’s arsenal of Fattah missiles is, and the missile class’ cost effectiveness compared to other classes. One possible use of the missiles would be to strike key Israeli air defence sites in order to serve as a force multiplier for the remainder of the ballistic missile arsenal, allowing cheaper missile classes to then penetrate Israeli air defences with greater success rates. The success rates of Iranian ballistic missile strikes has already far exceeded the expectations of most Western assessments, and is expected to continue to rise as the Israeli surface-to-air missile arsenal is <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/israel-air-defence-shortages-iranian-hezbollah" target="_blank">increasingly depleted</a>. The Israeli Arrow, Barak 8 and David’s Sling systems capable of intercepting medium range missile attacks are estimated to have only a very small number of interceptors available compared to the size of the Iranian arsenals, with <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/how-effective-is-thaad-in-defending-israel-against-iranian-missile-strikes" target="_blank">support from U.S. Army THAAD</a> anti-missile systems based in Israel and from <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/usnavy-replenish-destroyer-missile-stocks" target="_blank">nearby U.S. Navy AEGIS destroyers</a> only partly alleviating pressure on the Israeli network. Although the Fattah hypersonic missile appears to be one of the most outstanding military assets in the Iranian Armed Forces, much remains uncertain regarding its impact on the war effort, with this depending on a number of factors including the system’s precision, the kinds of targets it is used against, and the number of missiles in Iran’s arsenal, among others.&nbsp;Should the system be able to deliver the capabilities Iranian government source have claimed, and should a significant arsenal have been built up since 2023, it has the potential to have a transformative impact not only on the current conflict, but also on broader global perceptions of the utility of anti-missile defences.&nbsp;