Credit:: presstv.ir/Detail/2024/09/17/733456/settlers-tel-aviv-no-safe-yemen-hypersonic-missile

In my latest interview with TheMediaLine I was asked regarding “The Middle East and the Global Arms Race: How Iranian Technology Made Houthi Missiles Harder for Israel To Intercept.”

https://themedialine.org/top-stories/the-middle-east-and-the-global-arms-race-how-iranian-technology-made-houthi-missiles-harder-for-israel-to-intercept/

Since the published interpretation of my interview distorts the technical and geopolitical realities I described, my original opinion is attached below:

The Yemeni Armed Forces targeted a military target of the Israeli enemy in the occupied area of Yaffa (Tel Aviv) using a hypersonic ballistic missile, type Palestine-2,” a Houthi military statement said on 25 December ,2024.

Israel usually intercepts Houthi Missiles outside of Israel, but there is no such thing as an impenetrable Air-Defense (AD) and  its multi-layered AD fails in mission sometimes.

And last week, a school in Ramat Gan, a Tel Aviv suburb, was damaged after a missile fired from Yemen was partly intercepted, the Israeli military said. The other Houthi missile hit a playground in Tel Aviv’s Jaffa neighbourhood.

Credit: https://habura.co.il/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/5125479843968954694-%D7%A2%D7%A8%D7%99%D7%99%D7%AA-%D7%A8%D7%9E%D7%AA-%D7%92%D7%9F-898964.jpg

Actually, the Palestine-2 missile is Houthi locally assembled single-cone warhead  clone of the Iranian quasi-hypersonic as well as quasi-ballistic Kheibar-Shekan-2 (KS-2) two-stage, solid-propellant, truck-launched MRBM. This 3d generation of the Fateh family of ballistic missiles, Iran claims it has a maximum range of 1,800 kilometers. However, Houthi Palestine-2 with the reduced missile’s warhead weight achieves the slightly increased range of about 2,150 kilometers.

It produces about Mach 10 and has Mach 8 numbers for skip-gliding, and also for missile defense maneuver to slow down to Mach 2.

An original KS-2 performs its SKIP-GLIDE MANEUVERS in the UPPER ATMOSHPERE layers and once it has slowed down to a certain threshold speed, it dives down at a steep angle. Since it depends on the selected trajectory, its impact velocity can be Mach 5, combined with prior maneuvering; some classify it as Iran’s first quasi-hypersonic weapon.

Credit: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/332068000/figure/fig1/AS:941817507893276@1601558200666/Different-entry-trajectories.png

It is reported that KS-2 is able to operate below the effective engagement envelope of the , for example, THAAD ballistic-missile-defense system. To achieve that, it needs to glide for ~250km and the last ~150km below an altitude of ~35-40km.

However, THAAD is so advanced AD that the KS-2 will likely eventually enter its effective envelope if close enough to the THAAD site. If positioned forward in the countries located on the KS-2 route, it can further stress the KS-2 to fly at lower altitudes and waste energy/velocity.

The KS-2 were massively used by Iran to attack Israel twice. Some of them penetrated Israeli Air Defense, but despite the utilized combined primary and secondary guidance systems, they aren’t demonstrated accuracy contrary to the strikes in Syria as well as field tests and military drills. But this lack of accuracy doesn’t matter when the nuclear warhead is used.

In essence, Iranian ballistic missiles are advanced clones of the reverse-engineered Chinese, Syrian, Pakistani and North Korean replicas of the Soviet ballistic missiles that were used in the middle of the last century, both as exported (R-17 Elbrus SRBM) to the 3d countries and stolen samples (Kh-55 ALCM) of the Soviet weapons and intellectual property (R-27 SLBM) as a result of the joint intelligence efforts of these countries in the post-Soviet countries.

In fact, Iran has succeeded in dramatically increasing the level of education of the population under the Ayatollahs, something the Shah failed to do. This achievement has had a positive impact on all Iranian industries, including defense, and Iran is transforming from a client of North Korean and Chinese missile manufacturers to an equal partner.

Incidentally, the above calls into question numerous statements from high-level political circles and the world’s mainstream media about Russia’s interest in Iranian ballistic missiles and their use against Ukraine, for which no evidence has yet been presented.

In any case, unlike the local mainstream media and political opposition leaders representing the previous “Failed Concept” government, the current Israeli government has demonstrated political wisdom by not swallowing this cognitive bait.

Meanwhile, both the US’s formal withdrawal from the INF Treaty in 2019 as well as the current military confrontation between NATO and Russia have stimulated enormous progress in the Russian defense industry, including the development and successful combat use of hypersonic and quasi-hypersonic missile systems. This technological breakthrough triggered the military industries of many countries, including Iran and Israel.

The style of the recent Israeli SEAD/DEAD successful missions against Iranian AD is reminiscent of numerous Russian SEAD/DEAD successful missions using the Kh-47M2 Kinzhal (Dagger) quasi-hypersonic ALBM against NATO’s dual-layered AD in Kiev.

Actually, the KS-2 is a difficult target even for the modern Israeli multi-layered Israeli air defense, the concept of which was laid down 30 years ago.

However, the David Sling and both Arrow systems demonstrates combat capabilities proven by successful interceptions of the existing Houthi-Iranian combined threats.

Nowadays, this multi-layered air defense utilizes limited opportunities of the favorable moments to engage a such target. There are recent reports that the additional Israeli air defense systems are being developed to counter the further hypersonic threats.

According to the Law of Conservation of Energy: Energy does not arise or disappear, it can manifest itself from one body to an action, and one type of energy can also be transformed into another.

Any attempts to change the existing map of the world have led, are leading and will lead to poorly predictable side effects.