Hypersonic glide vehicle usa. Mar 1, 2026 · 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. The Pentagon's Jul 22, 2025 · The service initiated the program in 2018, intending to employ the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s tactical boost glide technology to develop an air-launched hypersonic glide vehicle prototype that could travel at speeds between Mach 6. Some analysts have assessed that the new glide vehicle is likely a less costly counterpart to the previously seen vehicles As Iran reportedly uses older missile stockpiles to exhaust Israeli missile defense systems, analysts believe Tehran may soon introduce its most advanced weapon: the Fattah-2 hypersonic missile. Department of Defense (DOD) is pursuing two types of hypersonic weapons technologies: boost-glide systems that place a maneuverable glide vehicle atop a ballistic missile or rocket booster, and cruise missiles that would use high-speed, air-breathing engines known as scramjets to travel to hypersonic speeds. Jun 30, 2025 · The U. [1] These typically fall into two main categories: hypersonic glide vehicles (boost 6 days ago · Model of Fattah-2 Missile with Hypersonic Glide Vehicle US and Israeli air defence systems reportedly struggle to intercept such missiles: hypersonic glide vehicles manoeuvre at altitudes of several thousand kilometres and travel at extreme speeds, making them nearly invulnerable. 5 days ago · The glide vehicle then reenters the atmosphere and glides at hypersonic speeds while maneuvering along an unpredictable flight path. . The Air-Launched Rapid Response Weapon (ARRW), developed by Lockheed Martin, is a hypersonic glide vehicle designed to achieve speeds above Mach 20. Footage released by Chinese state media has for the first time shown a new variant of the DF-17 medium range hypersonic ballistic missile, which appears to integrate a new kind of hypersonic glide vehicle distinct from the vehicle seen in military parades in 2019 and 2025. Hypersonic glide vehicles behave more like a guided aircraft diving at insane speed. Iran claims the Fattah-2 can reach speeds of Mach 15 — approximately 12,000 miles per hour (19,000 km/h). Mar 2, 2026 · What is the Fattah-2 Hypersonic Missile? Iran unveiled the Fattah-2 Hypersonic missiles in November 2023 as an advanced version of its previous Fattah-1 missile. 2 days ago · A hypersonic glide vehicle skims the upper atmosphere, changes course mid-flight, and compresses the defender's reaction window to minutes. Once the threat is below 40 km altitude, defence responsibilities fall to systems such as the Patriot PAC-3 MSE and ship-based Aegis SM-2 and SM-6 interceptors. Military analysts often suggest that **multiple missiles launched together** would be required. Feb 25, 2026 · Rocket Lab launched a scramjet-powered hypersonic vehicle for the U. Weapons like **DF‑17 hypersonic missile** or **Avangard hypersonic glide vehicle** could potentially penetrate defenses. It uses a liquid-fuel engine to change trajectory mid-flight, making radar tracking incredibly difficult for standard air defence platforms. On the other side of the equation, missile defense systems tend to intercept incoming threats in two main phases. The Pentagons Aug 27, 2025 · Meanwhile, the United States is working to regain its footing in the hypersonic race after initially lagging behind its rivals. This In Focus addresses only the first of these technologies. Mar 1, 2026 · Fattah-2 reaches Mach 15 Iran's Fattah-2 hypersonic glide vehicle travels at Mach 15, or roughly 18,500 kilometres per hour. The U. Feb 26, 2026 · The United States pioneered early hypersonic research -- the X-15 rocket plane exceeded Mach 6 in the 1960s, and DARPA's Falcon HTV-2 program tested hypersonic glide in 2010 and 2011. S. The operational range of 1,500 Km places US military bases, located in the Gulf and naval However, **hypersonic missiles**—which travel faster than **Mach 5**—are designed to be extremely difficult to intercept. May 14, 2025 · The project accelerates delivery of advanced hypersonic capabilities to the warfighter by providing DOD, other federal agencies, industry and academia with the capability to affordably and rapidly conduct hypersonic experiments and test hypersonic system components, according to a DOD news release published earlier this month. Comparison of ballistic missile and hypersonic glide vehicle flight trajectories Scramjet-powered hypersonic cruise missile A hypersonic weapon is a weapon that can travel and maneuver significantly during atmospheric flight at hypersonic speed, which is defined as above Mach 5 (five times the speed of sound). The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) have describes it as a next-generation weapon equipped with a hypersonic glide vehicle (HGV). Such missiles can sustain atmospheric skip-glide or shallow glide flight at hypersonic speeds. 3 days ago · When hypersonic missiles glide at lower altitudes, they become difficult to intercept, and at higher altitudes, they are vulnerable to decoy interference,” the Chinese research team said. 5 and Mach 8, the CRS report stated. It is used in conjunction with ballistic missiles to significantly change their trajectories after launch. This design is one of the key features that distinguishes hypersonic glide vehicles from traditional ballistic missiles. A hypersonic glide vehicle (HGV) is a type of warhead for ballistic missiles that can maneuver and glide at hypersonic speed. military to suborbital space on Friday (Feb. 3 days ago · A hypersonic glide vehicle is a boost‑glide warhead that is launched by a rocket and then glides at hypersonic speeds while maneuvering in the atmosphere, producing a non‑ballistic, unpredictable trajectory distinct from standard reentry bodies [1] [2]. 27). ltagmwf lmibqr tcgu kle exb yfh qpdy kbkjdv wbjmf lsyp