Explained: How Blue Sparrow Missile Goes To Space And Then Unleashes Hell

Israel's Blue Sparrow missile played a decisive role in targeting multiple sites in Iran, including the compound where Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei was assassinated. The missile, which has a range of about 1,240 miles, reportedly leaves the Earth's atmosphere before descending at high speed towards its target.

According to multiple reports, the powerful ballistic missile travelled to the edge of space before plunging back to Earth, striking the location where Khamenei and several senior Iranian figures were gathered on Saturday, February 28.

The Blue Sparrow is part of a family of Israeli missiles that also includes the Black Sparrow and Silver Sparrow. These systems were originally developed to simulate Scud-type ballistic missiles, similar to those launched at Israel by Iraq during the 1991 Gulf War, allowing Israel to test and improve its missile defence capabilities.

Blue Sparrow

The Blue Sparrow is part of a family of air-launched ballistic target missiles developed by Rafael Advanced Defense Systems to simulate different types of ballistic threats for Israel's Arrow missile-defence programme.

Technical descriptions indicate that the Blue Sparrow is about 6.5 metres long and weighs around 1,900 kg before launch. It is powered by a single-stage solid-fuel booster.

The Blue Sparrow is usually launched from a fighter aircraft, after which its booster rockets send it on a high-altitude ballistic path before the payload descends toward its intended target.

Black Sparrow

The Black Sparrow was developed to simulate short-range ballistic missile threats, particularly systems such as the Soviet-designed Scud-B. It is part of Israel's Sparrow family of air-launched target missiles used to test and evaluate the country's missile-defence systems.

Designed to replicate the flight characteristics of unitary short-range theatre ballistic missiles, the Black Sparrow allows defence systems to track and intercept targets under realistic conditions. The missile has been used successfully in several flight and interception tests, during which it followed different ballistic trajectories and performed various re-entry manoeuvres to simulate real battlefield threats.

Silver Sparrow

The Silver Sparrow is the most advanced and longest-range variant of the Sparrow missile family. It was developed to simulate long-range ballistic missiles such as Iran's Shahab-3. The missile is larger than the Blue and Black Sparrow variants. The Silver Sparrow was first tested in September 2013, when it was launched over the Mediterranean Sea as part of a joint Israeli-U.S. missile defence test.