Iran’s state-controlled PressTV on Monday quoted officials from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) who claimed they launched “hypersonic missiles” at Israel on Saturday night and that the fast-moving weapons were able to evade Israel, the U.S., and all of their allies to strike their targets in Israel.
The report quoted Iranian Armed Forces chief of staff Maj. Gen. Mohammad Baqeri’s claim on Sunday that Iran “hit a large intelligence base in the occupied lands and Israel’s Nevatim Airbase, from where an F-35 jet took off to target Iran’s diplomatic premises in Damascus.”
Baqeri said Iran’s airstrikes “reached their goals” as Israel’s vaunted Iron Dome defense system “failed to deal with the Iranian missiles and drones properly.”
“Iran initiated an attack against Israel, launching over 300 threats of various types. The Iranian threat met the aerial and technological superiority of the IDF, along with a strong fighting coalition,” said Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari on Sunday.
“99 percent of the threats launched towards Israeli territory were intercepted – a very significant strategic achievement. Of approximately 170 unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) that Iran launched, zero crossed into Israeli territory,” he said.
“From the more than 30 cruise missiles Iran launched, none crossed into Israeli territory. Out of over 120 ballistic missiles, only a few crossed into Israeli territory, with the rest being intercepted,” he said.
“Iran hoped to incapacitate the base and thus impair our aerial capabilities, but it failed. IAF aircraft continue to take off and land from the base and depart for offensive and defensive missions,” he said.
Iran said its attack was retaliation for Israel allegedly bombing the Iranian consulate in Damascus and killing several high-ranking officers of the IRGC, which is a designated terrorist organization. Israel has not formally taken responsibility for the bombing, much less divulged what kind of jet was used or where it might have launched from.
Israel does have an inventory of F-35 Lightning fifth-generation fighters, designed by Lockheed Martin in cooperation with a number of U.S. allies. There are F-35s based at Nevatim, which appears to have been Iran’s major military target.
Iran’s strategy was evidently to overwhelm Israel’s defenses with a huge swarm of relatively slow-moving drones, then punch through the chaos with fast-moving ballistic missiles that need only about ten minutes to reach their targets after launch.
Israel has developed a multi-layered interception system, under which Iron Dome takes out drones and short-range missiles like the highly inaccurate terror rockets favored by Hamas and other Iranian proxy forces, while the Arrow, the U.S.-made Patriot anti-missile system, and warplanes like the F-35 intercept larger missiles at greater distances and higher altitudes. The Arrow can hit incoming ballistic missiles while they are still in space, as appears to have happened on Saturday night.
The IDF filled in the gap between Iron Dome and the Arrow with David’s Sling, which saw action for the first time in May 2023 during a previous clash between Israel and Palestinian terrorists. David’s Sling, which was co-developed with Raytheon and introduced in 2017, is effective at intercepting targets between 25 and 185 miles away.
David’s Sling uses a missile known as the Stunner, which distinguishes itself from many other interception systems by taking a “hit-to-kill” approach — guided by extremely sensitive radar and advanced electronics, it directly impacts incoming missiles, rather than detonating near them and seeking to damage them with shrapnel.
Among other benefits, this can reduce the amount of debris falling from the sky during successful intercepts, and it reduces the chances of a damaged ballistic missile falling to earth with its warhead intact.
Iran has a huge arsenal of missiles and drones, but whether any of them qualifies as a true hypersonic missile or not is questionable. In the days before the attack, Iranian state media showcased nine missiles that could supposedly reach Israel from launch sites in Iran. Only one of them, the Fattah-2, was billed as hypersonic, and it is still under development.
The Fattah-2 supposedly consists of a solid-fuel booster rocket that launches into space, then deploys a hypersonic glide vehicle (HGV) with a liquid-fueled engine that delivers the warhead to its target.
