Weapons The United States is increasingly using a secret missile with six rotating metal blades instead of explosives to kill terrorists

The United States is increasingly used a new, secret type of missile in Syria. The latest sightings of a mutilating missile are from June and September.

An American newspaper, for example, reports about this The New York Times and the British newspaper The Guardian.

Usually missiles contain explosives. In the AIM-114R9X Hellfire missile, they have been replaced with six rotating metal blades that shred their targets. The use of a missile firing from a remotely piloted military aircraft is justified by the fact that, due to its accuracy, it causes less damage around the target and can thus save bystanders from destruction.

The name of the missile usually abbreviated R9X. Its nickname is sometimes Ninja, sometimes flying Ginsu – according to the Ginsu knife series sold by a knife maker sold on U.S. shopping TV.

The US newspaper was the first to report on its existence Wall Street Journal in the spring of 2019. According to the newspaper, the R9X was used for the first time already in 2017, when it killed the second leader of the terrorist organization al-Qaeda Abu Khayr al Masri In the attack on Idlib, Syria.

In June of this year, the leader of a branch called Al-Qaeda’s Hurras al-Din was killed in Idlib. Khaled al-Aruri. Earlier in September, a terrorist suspect died Sayyaf al-Tunsi. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the “Ninja” was used in the attack that destroyed al-Tuns ’car and killed the man. The weapons experts following the events in Syria have not been in agreement as to whether the missile in question was certainly used in the September attack.

U.S. sources who spoke to The New York Times about “Ninja” said the R9X has been used a total of about half a dozen times in recent years, but The Guardian says this estimate is outdated and there would be more uses.

AGM114missiles were originally developed as anti-aircraft missiles. The R9X has been developed on the basis of the AGM114R missile version. A special feature of the R or Romeo missile is the higher flight altitude. There are also other R9 versions public information, but the R9X has not been reported by the administration.

According to the New York Times, its sources confirmed two cases where the R9X was in use. In the case of Abu Khayr al Masri in 2017, the missile was used by the CIA and in another case by a special forces headquarters, killing an al-Qaeda leader Jamal al-Badawi In Yemen at the turn of the year 2018-2019.

It is typically used when the use of other weapons would endanger nearby civilians. It is typical for al-Qaeda to stay in urban areas with a high population density. So the exact “Ninja,” or R9X, serves its purpose when the United States goes to war on terrorism, the media say.

There is no human rights missile or humane tool in this “flying knife set,” he recalls Iain Overton Action on Armed Violence in The Guardian.

“This new weapon is presented as an alternative to larger missiles and may be marketed outright ethically. But if it is used in violation of proper justice, it is just as prone to hit wrong targets as other attacks, ”Overton said.

“It’s just an assassin’s blade waved by a state that is rarely held accountable for its actions.”