Israel is developing a new system to intercept hypersonic missiles

Israel's state-owned Rafael Advanced Defense Company Ltd. announced the development of a new system to intercept hypersonic missiles, after Iran said last week that it had produced the first such missile.

"The SkySonic interceptor will enable us to intercept all kinds of hypersonic threats - hypersonic ballistic missiles, hypersonic cruise missiles," Yuval Steinitz, head of the Rafael company that developed the Iron Dome system, said in an interview with Reuters at a media forum.

The company added that it had briefed the US Department of Defense (The Pentagon) on its development of the new system. The company declined to say if or when the Israeli military could deploy Skysonic. The Israeli Foreign Ministry has not yet issued a comment.

These missiles can travel at least five times the speed of sound and in a complex trajectory, making them difficult to intercept.

The company showed a clip simulating the launch of Skysonic, in which an interceptor missile appeared vertically from the launch battery. The missile's warhead is then shown detaching and levitating as the missile's booster fights off an incoming threat.

Rafael said it will unveil the new system at the Paris Air Show next week.

On June 6, Iran announced the launch of the Fattah missile, which it said was the first hypersonic ballistic missile it produced domestically.

Iranian state television said the missile can reach a range of 15,000 kilometers per hour and can evade Israeli defense systems, such as the short-range Iron Dome.