Iran has unveiled Fattah, the world’s first hypersonic missile, which it claims will give it a military advantage and can pierce missile defense systems.
The missile has a range of 1,400 km (870 miles), can travel at speeds of up to Mach 15 (5,145 meters or 16,880 feet per second), has an adjustable secondary nozzle, and uses solid propellants for great manoeuvrability.
Because they can maneuver and travel at speeds of up to five times the speed of sound, hypersonic missiles are challenging for defense systems and radars to target.
Though little specifics about the armament are known, it is thought that only the United States, Russia, China, and North Korea have successfully tested hypersonic missiles.
Chris Christie, a former governor of New Jersey, will announce his presidential run in 2024 at a town hall in New Hampshire.
(AP) NEW YORK — Chris Christie, a former governor of New Jersey, will introduce himself as a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination at a town hall meeting in New Hampshire on Tuesday night.
Christie will be running in his second presidential race after losing to Trump in 2016. Christie later grew close to the former president but later parted ways with him after the latter refused to recognize the results of the 2020 election. He has positioned himself as the only contender prepared to take on former President Donald Trump head-on.
Christie will join a crowded field of candidates in the Republican primary, which already has Trump, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, and South Carolina Senator Tim Scott. On Wednesday, former vice president Mike Pence will formally begin his own campaign in Iowa.
Christie, who during his tenure as governor of New Jersey built a reputation as a fighter with a talent for viralizing confrontational moments, faces an uphill battle to win the party’s nomination in spite of the fact that Trump lost his bid for reelection in 2020 and the Republicans performed worse than expected in the 2022 midterm elections.
Christie has positioned himself as the only candidate with the guts to fight Trump head-on and has threatened a rerun of 2016 if they don’t.
“I’m not a moron. Beating the person in the lead is the only way to win. Therefore, how would a campaign appear? In a recent podcast interview, Christie stated such a candidacy “would look like a direct frontal challenge to Donald Trump trying to return to the presidency.”
Republicans who oppose Trump are especially anxious to see Christie and Trump square off in a primary discussion, provided that Christie passes the strict funding requirements established by the Republican National Committee and Trump agrees to participate.
Christie, though, has added that if he didn’t think there was a chance for him to win, he wouldn’t run as a kamikaze candidate to unseat Trump. He recently told Politico, “I’m not a hired assassin.