According to military analysts, the dreaded Hellfire Ninja R9X missile, which kills high profile targets without the use of explosives by using pop-out swords, most recently claimed the life of Al Qaeda’s commander Ayman al-Zawahiri.
President Joe Biden reported that on Saturday, a drone attack in the Shirpur district of Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, killed al-Zawahiri.
71 years old was the terrorist leader.
On August 1, a high-ranking member of the Biden administration told media that a drone had launched two Hellfire R9X missiles at the terrorist leader as he entered the balcony of his safe house.
With six extended blades and 45kg of strengthened metal in its tip, the R9X is equipped to rip through targets without igniting a deadly blast that could injure bystanders.
The official called the assassination of al-Zawahiri a “perfect targeted airstrike.”
The residence was occupied by Osama Bin-former Laden’s number two and his family. According to President Biden, Saturday’s strike resulted in additional injuries.
Since the assassination of Osama bin Laden in 2011, it was the United States’ most important action against al Qaeda. In fact, the RX9 was taken into account when strategies for permanently eliminating the 9/11 mastermind were being developed.
Due to its lesser potential for collateral damage, the US military now favours the R9X Hellfire missile for use in pinpoint assassinations.
The “ninja” missile was created in 2011 during Obama’s presidency in response to worries over the amount of civilians being killed in drone attack operations in the Middle East. Its nickname comes from the fact that it does not employ an explosive warhead.
The Department of Defense and the CIA worked together to produce it.
The missile is produced by Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin. How many R9X missiles the Pentagon has in its arsenal is unknown.
The 2022 budget requests for missile purchase include no mention of the R9X.
The R9X was confirmed to be used twice, in 2019 and 2020, by the covert military Joint Special Operations Command, according to the New York Times.
However, it has apparently been employed to eliminate particular targets on close to a dozen other occasions.
The US military invented the concept of Lazy Dogs, non-explosive kinetic weapons, during the 1950s Korean and Vietnam Wars.
The bombs, which are dropped from aircraft, are intended to kill via kinetic energy. Between 560 and 625 pounds were on the. Lazy Dogs’ development was stopped in the 1960s since they did not seem to be popular with commanders.
The Wall Street Journal broke the news of the R9X’s existence for the first time in 2019. According to the publication, the rocket was used in assaults against people in Yemen, Somalia, Afghanistan, Libya, and Iraq.
According to the Journal, individuals who have worked with the R9X are known as the “flying Ginsu,” a nickname for a well-known manufacturer of steak knives.
At the time, an alleged official source informed the newspaper that the missile’s “explicit goal” was to “reduce civilian casualties.”
According to the publication, the weapon is comparable to a “speedy anvil.”
According to the example given by the Journal, the R9X was so exact that if a target was in a car with a good driver, the missile would kill the target but leave the driver unharmed.
The same source claimed that the missile’s blades could pierce cars’ roofs as well as structures.
Letta Tayler of Human Rights Watch stated on the organization’s website at the time of the WSJ article that the RX9 shouldn’t always be considered a more morally upstanding weapon.
“On its own, the R9X won’t overcome the multitude of legal difficulties surrounding the US targeted assassination programme, which since 2002 has killed thousands of people with limited transparency,” claimed Tayler.
Two ISIS militants were allegedly killed in Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province in August 2021 using the R9X. The missiles, according to Task & Purpose, were launched by a MQ-9 Reaper drone.
Without mentioning any future plans, Army Major General William “Hank” Taylor boasted about the successful strike and the absence of civilian casualties, adding: “We will continue to have the ability to defend ourselves and to leverage over-the-horizon capability to conduct counterterrorism operations as needed.”
The Hamid Karzai International Airport attack, which claimed the lives of 13 US service members, prompted that strike.
The R9X is suspected of being used in the February 2017 assassination of Ahmad Hasan Abu Khayr al-Masri, the second-in-command of al Qaeda, in addition to the strike in August 2021.
In January 2019, it was used once more to kill Taliban leader Mohabullah in Afghanistan; that same month, it was also used to kill USS Cole bombing suspect Jamel Ahmed Mohammed Ali al-Badawi in Yemen; and in June 2019, it was also used to kill the leader of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, Abu Ahmed al-Jaziri.
The missile killed Hurras Al-Din leaders Qassam al-Urduni and Bilal al-Sanaani in Syria the next year.
According to the Military Times, the latter made use of three warheads weighing more than 100 pounds.
Al-Zawahiri joins a group of undesirables who have been eliminated by variants of the conventional Hellfire missile, including Hamas commander Ahmed Yassin, who was killed by the Israeli Air Force in 2004.
Anwar al-Awlaki, an Al Qaeda organiser, high-ranking Al Qaeda leader Abu Yahya al-Libi, who died in Pakistan in 2012, Al-Shabaab leader Moktar Ali Zubeyr, who died in Somalia in 2014, and Mohammed Emwazi, also known as Jihadi John, who died in Syria in 2015 were all killed by conventional Hellfire missiles used by the US military.
A typical Hellfire missile’s explosive warhead weighs about 20 pounds.
When Abu Hamzah al-Yemeni, the head of the Hurras al Din, was compromised in the Syrian city of Idlib in June 2022, the Hellfire Ninja was last prominently used.
Images from the site revealed a motorcycle’s crumpled wreckage scattered over the ground, indicating the missile had hit its intended target directly.
Hurras al Din is a very small but potent military organisation headed by adherents of Al Qaeda; Yemeni served as its leader till his passing yesterday.
The United Nations estimates that there are between 2,000 and 2,500 fighters in the portion of Syria held by the rebels.
Although it was never confirmed, the R9X missile is also thought to have been used in the airstrike that killed Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani in January and brought Washington and Tehran dangerously close to war.
Biden repeatedly brought up the September 11 terrorist attacks in his statements after al-Zawahiri was killed, and he claimed that by doing so, the United States has shown its determination to pursue terrorist leaders no matter where they hide or how long it takes.
He declared, “Justice has been done, and this terrorist leader is no more.” We reiterated tonight that the United States will track you out and eliminate you if you pose a threat to our citizens, regardless of how long it takes or where you hide.