Iran is now using Mach 14 missiles.

[vanessa_ca]

Link to tweet

Edit to add, that Engels did not specifically mention hypersonic, so I find that tweet a bit misleading.

They allegedly damaged Al-Udayri base, a US strategic helicopter base, a logistic support base, and a power station in Israel. Allegedly.

Link to tweet

The following is from an Iranian source so do with it what you will. I can't vouch for anything, but prefer not to wait for Bari Weiss and other MSM to trickle down whatever our government wants.

Link to tweet

Editing to add this recent article from March

Iranian sources on February 28 released footage of the launch of the Fattah ballistic missile, which integrates a next generation manoeuvring re-entry vehicle to effectively evade missile defences. This was followed by the reported first ever launch of the Fattah-2, a heavily enhanced successor to the missile, on March 1. The Fattah-2 missile uses a hypersonic glide vehicle rather than a usual ballistic missile reentry vehicle, allowing it to manoeuvre in both pitch and yaw, to maintain far higher reentry speeds, and to approach targets from unexpected directions. Such missiles can sustain atmospheric skip-glide or shallow glide flight at hypersonic speeds. The missiles were launched following the initiation of coordinated large-scale military assault against Iran by the United States and Israel, which has seen multiple high value targets including key leadership figures targeted, and the country’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei killed.



While the large majority of ballistic missiles launched are reported by Iranian sources to have been lower value missile types, which may be intended to depleted hostile missile defences in the conflict’s earlier stages, higher value missiles like the Fattah and Fattah-2 may have been launched to neutralise high value targets that it is seen as important to destroy early on, such as the missile defence radar destroyed in Qatar. Their use may also serve as an important show of force regarding the room the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps retains for escalation. While the U.S. has suffered from severe shortages of anti-ballistic missiles for its Patriot and THAAD missile defence systems, however, it remains highly uncertain in what quantities the Fattah and Fattah-2 have been brought into service, with the latter in particular estimated to cost several times as much as older ballistic missile types such as the Khorramshahr.

Iran was reported to have first obtained manoeuvrable reentry vehicle technologies from North Korea in the 1990s, with such vehicles having also been sold to Syria that decade for its Hwasong-9 ballistic missiles, providing countermeasures against interception by Israel’s newly supplied Patriot air defence systems. North Korea began flight testing of hypersonic glide vehicles in September 2021, and reached a landmark in 2024 with the service entry of the Hwasong-16B intermediate range ballistic missile which integrates such vehicles. It has been speculated that Iran may have either jointly developed these technologies, or purchased them from North Korea. Although adversary missile defences, most notably the Patriot system, have proven to be far from reliable, the much improved penetrative capabilities of the Fattah and Fattah-2 are nevertheless game changers for Iran’s offensive potential.

-snip-

The Fattah’s ability to maintain controlled manoeuvrability inside the atmosphere seriously complicates possible interception efforts using systems such as the Israeli Arrow and U.S. Army THAAD. The missile has a reported 1,400 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. Leading technological challenges in moving from manoeuvrable reentry vehicles to hypersonic glide vehicles include enduring skin temperatures exceeding 2,000 degrees celsius, avoiding the extreme cracking of composite materials, and maintaining stable control despite ablative erosion. Extremely accurate inertial systems, and pre-loaded terrain and trajectory shaping, are also vital. Both the Fattah and the Fattah-2 have been assessed to have significantly complicated Western and Israeli missile defence planning.

-snip-


Iran Launches First Ever Hypersonic Glide Vehicle Strike: New Fattah-2 Missile Revolutionises Arsenal’s Potential


This is from Feb 28 this year

Link to tweet

[Dave Bowman]

1. A Russian gift?

[Lovie777]

2. Yep....................

[vanessa_ca]

7. I don't think so. People have been talking about it since about 2022

The are videos if its first launch on the net. I think they developed it on their own, but who knows. I mean, they are allies after all. But Russia guards its defense secrets fiercely. I don't think Russia would risk their stuff getting into the hands of Israeli spies in Iran.

Here´s a little more Iran Launches Fattah, Khorramshahr-4 Missiles toward Israel, U.S. Bases in Middle East and wiki https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fattah-1

[leftstreet]

17. +1

[Uncle Joe]

24. I'm wondering if Russia was desperate enough for drones against Ukraine,

and the Iranian Shahed drones proved highly effective, whether there was a technology trade? Russia has now localized that production.

One thing seems for certain, this war against Iran is helping fund Russia's war against Ukraine as oil prices have greatly escalated.

So if *rump is being blackmailed by Putin and/or Netanyahu over Epstein, that seems to be the most logical explanation as to why we waged war against Iran.

It seems to me that Netanyahu's actions are much more in line with Russian security than that of the U.S. and perhaps demographics plays a part?

Russia/Ukraine (Former USSR)
1,756,701

Morocco, Algeria & Tunisia
364,745

Romania
277,018

Poland
174,187

Iraq
131,065

United States
123,824

Ethiopia
96,208

France
83,538

Iran
81,154

Argentina
64,212

Turkey
64,352

Yemen
51,551

Bulgaria
44,529

Egypt and Sudan
38,046

Libya
36,120

United Kingdom
38,171

Hungary
33,008

India
29,536

Czechoslovakia (Former)
24,785

South Africa
22,623

Germany
21,215

Brazil
15,764

Canada
13,390

Georgia
12,552

Yugoslavia (Former)
11,067

Syria
10,254

https://jewishvirtuallibrary.org/total-immigration-to-israel-by-country-of-origin

[Bluetus]

54. You mean Iranians are not all goat herders?

In retrospect, maybe it was unwise to have a senile president and an alcoholic Secretary of war.

[vanessa_ca]

15. Military Watch points the finger at North Korea

I updated the OP to add an excerpt from their article https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/iran-launches-first-hypersonic-glide-strike-fattah2

[Dave Bowman]

37. Thanks!

[OC375]

3. Opens the door for our boom sticks in Ukraine

Seems like a stretch to me, but who knows.

[malaise]

4. Only arrogance and disrespect would allow these morons to diss a 10,000+

year old civilization.
PHEW!
Bullies never learn.

[marble falls]

26. one of the places that science and mathimatics were developed. Where their population has a very high proportion ...

... of advanced science degree developed here in the US.

They may be "religious", but they most certainly are not stupid and uneducated.

[vanessa_ca]

31. Indeed. They have some of the best scientists and engineers in the world

I wouldn't mock or underestimate them

[marble falls]

35. For most of my science/math classes I did better if I could get into study groups with Iranian students.

[Fichefinder]

62. Plus, desperation has given them extra incentive, just like Ukraine

[Deuxcents]

36. I'm watching a report on heritage sites being destroyed. Irreplaceable both physically and emotionally

[malaise]

43. Effin monsters

That is all

[GusBob]

5. One commentor theorized they would hold their cards and bide their time

and wait until we depleted our interceptors, etc and then start fighting back harder

[BeyondGeography]

6. It's a rational strategy

If true, at least one side in this war has one.

[marble falls]

28. It's worked out well this year for Ukraine. We go for the quick kill, they play a long game.

[Eko]

8. Fake and or misleading.

Richard Engel is talking about cluster bombs, not mach 14 missiles. The whole mach14 thing is used to scare us and is propaganda. Do they have some? Prob, enough to matter? Prob not. Enough to use? Not so far.

[EX500rider]

9. Iran is famous for issuing BS new stories about their "wonder weapons" which never go into production

[vanessa_ca]

14. Yeah, I noticed that too and edited the OP afterwards. Thanks -eom

[vanessa_ca]

64. Question for you

It's possible the reference was to this missile, the Khorramshahr-4. What do you think? I defer to your knowledge.

Link to tweet

[OC375]

10. Can a laser shoot one down?

I didn't even realize we had real world beam weapon technology in the field until recently. The speed of light is extremely slow, but it's still better than Mach14.

[sarisataka]

13. What is faster than the speed of light?

I am truly curious

[cloudbase]

18. The speed at which a lie passes Trump's lips.

The units are Incredible Donald John Trumps, or IDJTs.

You heard it here first. Where's my Ig Nobel?

[sarisataka]

19. Point conceded

[DBoon]

44. the speed of light is the fastest that information can be carried

ignorance and lies might travel at a higher speed

[OC375]

25. Bit of a joke

186,000mps 186,000mph is slow in the cosmic scheme of things, but faster than sound.

[sarisataka]

27. You are off by a factor of 3600

The speed of light is 186,000 miles per second

FTL travel is science fiction because, at this point, our understanding of physics is nothing can go faster than light.

[OC375]

29. Dang auto-correct!

Yes, mps. I love AI.

[marble falls]

30. A good idea flying over TACO's head. Totally unstopable.

[haele]

45. Might go the speed of light, but power required for an interceptor lasar

For a largish drone or mid-sized missile still pretty much requires the same power output of a LA class submarine power plant.
And there's no feasible design to build a power plant small enough to be able to put on a large enough land based laser weapons system platform that would be effective against missiles and large drones, not to mention the "tail" to maintain, and supply such a thing so its not useless after a few days of use at this point of time. Or any time within the next 10 years.

As for putting one on a plane or ship? Just as not possible.

I'm almost inclined to believe this has been a "fellow travellers adventure";
Kushner wants to neuter any potential funding for terrorists damaging his beautiful resort plans in Gaza.

Netenyahu wants a greater Israel that will cover the entire Levant, from Lebanon to the Sinai, with as much of Southern Syria and Western Jordan as he can manage to claim with the help of the US.

Hegseth and his merry band of Christian Nationalists want a Crusade to look all tough and manly, and make the world safe for the Western Christian Lords and their ignorant peasants.

Tech Bros and their associated Venture Capital MIC investors want to bypass Congressional oversight to use emergency cost plus acquisition contracts, over-inflating the costs, by-passing quality assurance and sneaking unproven AI updates into all the new weapons and systems that will have built as replacements.

And of course, GOP politicians wanted a way of dealing with the recent jobless and homeless who aren't able to adjust to their vision of a new world order, but are physically capable enough to toss into a military obeillette for a year or two until they finish up enough camp space to put all the excess people they no longer have a use for.

And of course, the Media and influencers need clicks.

[EYESORE 9001]

52. The speed of sound is faster

when you hear the car horn of the jackass behind you before you see the light change.

[eppur_se_muova]

42. "Extremely slow" ??? Where does that come from ? 186,000 mps (300,000 kps) is faster than anything else in the Universe.

That's Mach 870,000, give or take a few thousand.

[EX500rider]

11. Yeah no way this missile has a "one ton warhead"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fattah-2

[vanessa_ca]

21. 1 ton is the re-entry vehicle (RV) weight. Warhead has an estimated weight between 350 kg and 450 kg -eom

[sarisataka]

12. The video by Engel doesn't mention hypersonic but it does mention cluster munitions

And shows proof of their use against an apartment building.

IIRC, just yesterday there was a lot said about the use of cluster munitions by another country. Will the same be said about Iran as the other country? Time will tell.

[Eko]

16. Iran using cluster munitions especially against civilians

is just as wrong as Israel using cluster munitions against civilians.

[sarisataka]

22. I am glad there is at least one person

With the bravery to say it aloud

[artemisia1]

49. I don't mind saying it. Two wrongs have never made a right and the Mullahs of Iran are some patriarchal nasties

who delight in flogging and hanging young women who try to defend themselves against sexual assault. They are literally charged with "adultery".

[RoseTrellis]

20. Misrepresented

Please don’t fall for this obvious propaganda This is footage from a SpaceX flight. The video attached to that X post is actually from the December 22, 2017, launch of a Falcon 9 rocket carrying 10 Iridium NEXT satellites from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California

[EX500rider]

23. Also just about all orbital Vehicles come down at about that speed

17,000 mph plus is a pretty standard reentry speed

[marble falls]

34. And it takes 25,000 mph to get a vehicle to break from earth's gravity. ...

For example, with the definitional value for standard gravity of 9.80665 m/s2 (32.1740 ft/s2),[6] the escape velocity from Earth is 11.186 km/s (40,270 km/h; 25,020 mph; 36,700 ft/s).[7]

[sarisataka]

40. Shhh, this is an unstoppable Super Weapon

Don't bring facts into the discussion

[EX500rider]

41. Even the steerable parts not that revolutionary

Last edited Tue Mar 10, 2026, 10:26 PM - Edit history (2)

When a US ICBM bus drops off 10 warheads, they steer down to 10 different targets
Although that's the more modern of the MIRV type warheads:

(MARV): "Some advanced warheads, known as Maneuverable Reentry Vehicles (MARVs), can make adjustments during re-entry to enhance accuracy or evade defenses, though this is distinct from standard MIRVs."

[Kid Berwyn]

32. That's 10,741.8 mph

Which, if true, poses great danger for the United States armed forces.

[artemisia1]

33. He was not being deceptive in his post. Many missiles that are not considered true "hypersonic" will achieve hypersonic

speed in the last moments before impact. The true hypersonic missile is one that can maneuver at that speed. Otherwise, it is still a ballistic missile.

[marble falls]

39. The "maneuver" thing is the key. And it ain't easy. The Russians have blown up lots of equipment, scientists, ...

... engineers and technicians just trying to exert control on test units. They blow up good. Real good.

?si=DCIAkXhhFBVI9ybN

[artemisia1]

48. So true. I don't believe for a second that Russia has missiles that can maneuver at Mach 14 speeds as they

advertise. Maybe 3-8.

[marble falls]

56. They have three missiles capable of Mach eight to 10. This is from US intellegence. ...

... Kh-47M2 Kinzhal, the Oreshnik,

https://interestingengineering.com/photo-story/russia-unveils-zircon-hypersonic-missile

https://www.thetargetclasses.com/defence/top-5-fastest-missiles-in-the-world/

Mach 10 is actually not an impossible number, there a handful of Mach 25 missiles in the hands of several countries including the US, Russia and Chinese.

[artemisia1]

59. You misunderstood my post. Yes, their missiles can meet and exceed Mach 14, but I doubted that they could

maneuver at that speed in a true hypersonic missile way. Hypersonic missile does not simply mean that it can reach hypersonic speed, many ballistic missiles can do that, it means it is maneuverable at Hypersonic speeds. To repeat what my post stated, I doubt they have any that can maneuver beyond 6 or perhaps 8 Mach.

[ForgedCrank]

38. "Mach 14", eh?

[marble falls]

55. They do have Mach 9 missiles. All nations' space probes were ALL launched at least at 25,020MPH or Mach 32.6. ...

... Getting Mach 14 isn't the problem, making it's path conform to the curve of earth and steering it IS a problem. A big one.

[ForgedCrank]

61. The ISS

orbits @ Mach 20~ without zero thrust running. It's not a valid comparison. That's a whole lot different than a missile at or anywhere near sea level. Materials to survive those conditions don't even exist. This is more BS from Iran, just like their F-35 shoot down photos.

[usonian]

46. U.S. missiles rarely exceed Mach 3.

Iranians know that if the U.S. takes over, it means universal haircuts and shaves.

[marble falls]

57. The US Minuteman III is a Mach 23 system and it is not the fastest on the planet.

[usonian]

58. My ICBM and related knowledge is {sadly,happily} lacking.

Thx for the info. I hope it’s not needed, but a madman is running the show.

[marble falls]

60. I lived on a fleet ballistic missile sub. I slept within a few minutes walk from nuclear weapons and two reactors ...

... none of this shit was needed. It only engenders the need for more dangerous shit and more weak links in charge.

[Jedi Guy]

47. I'm going to press X to kinda sorta doubt on this one, I think.

This is hardly the first time that Iran's been noted to have hypersonic missiles. I seem to recall the usual fearmongering news stories on the topic making the rounds a couple of years ago, right around the same time there were other news stories about China, Russia, and other bad actors testing or developing the technology.

It's possible Iran has some hypersonics tucked away somewhere. Given the novelty of the technology I doubt like hell they have any sizeable stockpile of the things, though. Two dozen or thereabouts would be my guess, maybe three or four dozen. Enough of them to slip them through the missile defenses of the other Middle Eastern states and wreak some havoc but by no means enough to turn the tide of the war.

The most infuriating thing about this entire ordeal is how stupid and unnecessary it is. The (flimsy) justifications for attacking Iran change by the hour. Trump has no clear vision of what the win condition here is. Regime change? Surrender and concessions? Everyone in Iran gets a pony? Who the hell knows. Trump sure doesn't seem to. Trump starts a war for the same reason people eat the last slice of a cake. Because it's there and because they can.

Trump always largely did whatever the hell he felt like doing with no consideration of the consequences but it's vastly worse now that there are no adults in the room to restrain his stupid impulses and he knows he's term-limited, his bluster about a third term notwithstanding. He knows it's not happening.

[SamKnause]

50. I don't find Engels trustworthy.

[GreenWave]

51. They made the USA and Israel waste good missiles against drones and dummies.

This might get real ugly, real quick.

[Melon]

65. The vast majority of claims and video especially from Iran are nothing but government propaganda. AI slop

Iran has lost the vast majority of their launchers. They can’t fight back. They didn’t wait for anything, there defenses were destroyed, their communication cut. No country says “ Our plan is to let them destroy our leadership, then navy, destroy all of our radar, destroy our fighters, destroy 85% of all large missile launchers, and a very large percentage of our missiles and drones on the ground. Then we will attack.” It’s Iranian propaganda. They can’t fight back. They’ve killed I believe 8 soldiers in this entire campaign. There military infrastructure is truly being destroyed.

[markodochartaigh]

53. Iran is playing chess while Trump and Whisky Pete

are playing Russian roulette.

[Melon]

63. To balance, the US minuteman 3 goes Mach 23 and was developed in 1961......

[Melon]

66. If they have this indefensible technology, why haven't they sank our carrier?