My 'scoop' - First time publication of the R9X (ninja bomb) Hellfire missile use in Libya on August 28, 2018. The text also covers all other known U.S. drones R9X targeted killings until that date. It was originally published on my previous website, posted 11 August 2020.
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| Original Tweet, Aug. 13, 2020 |
U.S. drones
conduct an increasing number of targeted killings using the AGM-114 R9X
Hellfire missile, also called the “Ninja bomb” and “the flying Ginsu.” The
secretive weapon was rarely used until quite recently; it was reportedly used
only about six times between 2011 and May 2019. Yet as of August 2020, there
are six confirmed strikes between December 2019 and June 2020, while the July
2020 case remains as a suspected one.
This missile has six
blades within it instead of a typical explosive-based warhead. The blades fold
out moments before it tears and crushes through the top of the targeted
vehicles and passengers.
The idea here
is that the R9X has a
relatively small kill and injury radius in comparison to other missiles, which
explode and impact a larger area, and consequently cause more civilian
casualties. This reflects the original point of this missile – to minimize and even
potentially avoid civilian harm.
The strike of July 20, 2020 is suspected
as the most recent R9X strike to date. A drone attacked and killed two or three
suspected militants as they traveled that afternoon in a small white truck near
the town of Ihtaimlat (Aleppo, northern Syria). The information, evidence and
imagery from the site of the scene are lacking in order to prove or disprove
the use of the R9X missile in this case since some indicate it was used while
others do the opposite. For example, the presence of some burn signs, which are
not typical, and the penetration marks on the car’s roof lack the usually visible
signs of the R9X’s blades.
As for
undisputed recent cases:
Saturday, June 20, 2020, a U.S.
drone fired the R9X missile which targeted and struck a motorcycle and its two
armed passengers as they drove near the city of al-Bab, northern Aleppo, Syria.
The two motorcyclists were killed. Imagery from the scene of the strike
confirmed the use of the R9X: no signs of an explosion, hardly any damage to
the surroundings, and graphic images of the two men’s sliced bodies.
The two
carried fake IDs. Several hours later, their identities were revealed. One of
them was Fayz al-Akal, former ISIS
Governor of Raqqa and the brother of former ISIS Governor of Raqqa Hadi
al-Akal, who was killed in a 2013 airstrike. Fayz’s younger brother, Izzu
al-Akal, was the second man killed. He too was an ISIS militant.
Just five days
before, on June 14, a U.S. drone carried out a targeted killing in Idlib,
Syria. The R9X hit a Hyundai traveling with three occupants. Two of them were killed. They were identified as: Khaled al-Aruri (also known
as Abu Qassam al-Urduni), leader of the al-Qaeda affiliated Huras al-Din, and Bilal al-Sanaani, senior Huras
al-Din militant. The third man was evacuated
to the hospital. He lost his leg but kept his life.
These are not
the first uses of the R9X missile in 2020: Muhibullah Sher Wali Khan, the Taliban’s Northeast
Afghanistan Chief Financial Officer was killed in
Imam Saheb, Kunduz, Afghanistan, on January
12, 2020, while driving a white
Toyota.
During
December 2019, the U.S. used the R9X three times in Syria.
The first was
on December 3, when the R9X missile struck a Mitsubishi minivan traveling in Atmeh, Idlib, Syria. The two militants in the vehicle were
killed. One of them was a senior commander in al-Qaeda offshoot Hayat Tahrir Al
Sham, nicknamed “Abu Ahmad al-Muhajir.”
The second was
on December 7, al-Basuta, Aleppo, Syria. The U.S. MQ-9 Reaper drone fired the R9X
missile which struck a silver Hyundai. As a result, three of the four
passengers were killed, one being an al-Qaeda affiliated Hayat Tahrir al-Sham
commander. The fourth passenger was mutilated and it remains unknown if he
survived.
The third use
of the R9X was on December 22, near Termanin, Idlib, Syria. A drone strike killed Bilal Kharissat, senior
commander of the Huras al-Din, who was reportedly alone in his car.
The Wall Street Journal was able to
confirm the R9X’s existence in May of 2019 because the Obama
administration’s drone warfare campaign was ceaselessly criticized, particularly
for killing many civilians.
The WSJ reported that
the R9X was used “about half a dozen times” before May 2019 in five countries:
Iraq, Libya, Somalia,
Syria and Yemen. Yet the WSJ’s article specifically
identified only two cases:
The February
26, 2017, drone strike in
al-Mastumah, Idlib, Syria. The airstrike killed the two occupants who were in the car.
Among them, Ahmad Abu al-Khair al-Masri, who was one of the most
senior al-Qaeda leaders. According to the U.S. Government, he was responsible
for two attacks against the U.S. Embassy in Tanzania and in Kenya in 1998,
which killed over 200 people.
The January 1,
2019 drone struck a car
traveling in Marib governorate, Yemen, which killed Jamal Ahmed Mohammed Ali
al-Badawi, the only occupant. He was responsible for the
October 12, 2000 USS Cole attack and was a prominent al-Qaeda militant.
However, while
the Iraqi and Somali cases remained unknown until now, the case in Libya is
identified here for the first time.
Around 13:00 local time, on August
28, 2018, an aircraft fired a
missile which targeted and struck a white pickup truck that traveled about four
kilometers outside of the Dahra district in Bani
Walid, Libya. The U.S. AFRICOM statement later
confirmed it was a U.S. aircraft.
The object of this targeted killing was identified as Walid Bu Hariba. He was alone in the car at that time, and he was killed as a result of the airstrike. No other casualties were reported. He was once the ISIS-Libya branch commander in the city of Sirte. The imagery from the scene of the strike makes it clear that the R9X missile was used. It is very similar to images from other such strikes: the caved-in roof, the spilling body parts sliced by the missile’s blades, as well as the lack of any explosive-related damage at the scene.
Some experts appear to see
only the good in the R9X. Other professionals perceive its development as
fundamentally positive, but also voice their concerns. For instance, Arthur
Holland Michel, Co-Director
of the Center for the Study of the Drone at Bard College, warns that “we should
take care not to be over-sold on the technology’s precision.”
Moreover, Greg
Bagwell, former Air
Marshal at the Royal Air Force, and others are wary it would unduly increase
the number of drone strikes since politicians are short sighted. This could
only exacerbate issues of tactical thinking which comes at the expensive of
strategic thinking, as argued before by Audrey Kurth Cronin, Professor of
International Security at the American University and Director of the Center
for Security, Innovation and New Technology.
You can find
my own thoughts considering the R9X missile here.
*I thank Barbara Gurgel for her helpful editorial assistance.