Last week, we woke up to the Middle East skies lighting up. Iran was not just responding to an attack directed at it, it was attacking in an attempt to prove its arguable military might. The scientific world has discussed Iran’s missile program theoretically for years. Now, after the Iranian hypersonic missiles lit up the skies over Israel, we have more detailed information on the subject. This event forced every military analyst to reassess the strategic balance in the region. We at Defense Tech Global, along with our experts, interpreted the changing balance.
The Workhorses: A Storm of Ballistic Iran’s Missile
The center of Iran’s attack against its long-range enemy was its ballistic missiles. Missiles that can carry warheads hundreds of kilometers away are not new, but we have now seen Iran’s ability to use them. In the early days, Iran wanted to test what Israel’s advanced, multi-layered air defenses could do. In order to see how capable these systems were, they launched a large number of missiles in the early days to conduct the necessary analysis.
The Swarm Strategy: Drones and Iran’s Missile
The attack on Israel was not just a simple launch of ballistic missiles. Iranian generals had carefully coordinated the attack. Long before the faster missiles arrived, a swarm of Iranian drones, like the now-infamous Shahed series, filled the air. These are slow, but they are cheap and numerous.
Iranian commanders assigned these drones two tasks. To confuse Israeli air defenses and damage expensive systems. Israel easily intercepted these cheap drones, but the price it paid was not cheap. Using the slow-moving, cheap drones to shadow the cruise missiles and to do the main damage with the ballistic missiles was a smart decision by the Iranian military.
The Game Changer: The Hypersonic Threat
While the recent conflict showcased Iran’s existing arsenal, it also highlighted a future threat: hypersonic missiles. Iran claims to have developed weapons like the “Fattah,” an Iran’s missile that can travel at extreme speeds and maneuver during flight. While it’s unconfirmed if one was used in the recent barrage, the mere existence of such a weapon changes everything.
Engineers design advanced defense systems like Israel’s to intercept predictable trajectories. A maneuverable hypersonic Iran’s missile is a defender’s nightmare, almost impossible to shoot down with current technology. The development of these systems shows that Iran is not just building more missiles; it is actively working to build better ones designed specifically to defeat the most advanced defenses in the world. The attack on Israel was a warning shot, demonstrating not only what Iran has but also hinting at the more dangerous capabilities it is determined to acquire.
