U.S. military steps up use of razor-wielding ‘Ninja bomb’ against al Qaeda in Syria
The U.S. military is quietly using a gruesome new weapon of war that attempts to minimize civilian casualties by deploying six attached blades shortly before impact.
Less formally known as the Ninja bomb or the Flying Ginsu, the Hellfire AGM-114R9X is increasingly being used to conduct selected assassinations in Syria by the U.S. Joint Special Operations command, according to the Guardian .
The knife-bomb was reportedly developed during the Obama Administration as a way to address concerns over the number of civilians inadvertently getting caught up in military operations.
The weapon is a non-explosive version of the widely used hellfire missile. Hooked to a Predator drone, it works by combining 100 pounds of dense material with razor-sharp blades that emerge before impact to slice through potential targets.
But while the stealthy Ninja bomb may be more discrete, it certainly isn’t a nicer way of killing people, Iain Overton of Action on Armed Violence told the Guardian.
“This weapon, whilst only used only a handful of times, does appear to have less wide-area effects than other air-dropped explosive weapons,” he said.
“However, the vast majority of the U.S. explosive arsenal does, all too often, cause terrible collateral damage. Given (President) Trump’s administration also authorized the use of the largest non-nuclear explosion in the history of the world in Afghanistan, it’s important to be wary of the PR optics that the U.S. military is now using ‘humanitarian’ weapons.”
The bomb, which was reportedly only used half a dozen times before March of this year, is believed to be in more frequent use now, generally in Syria as part of targeted strikes against al-Qaida. It is first believed to have been used in 2017 to assassinate Abu Khayr al Masri, who was at that point second in command of al Qaeda. In Syria, the Guardian reports, the large presence of Russian troops has complicated U.S. efforts, leading to more targeted attempts on the heads of al Qaeda affiliates operating in the country.
According to Overton, the weapon is subject to the same limited oversight as the rest of the American arsenal.
“This new weapon, framed as an alternative to larger bombs, might be sold as almost ethical, but if it side-steps due judicial process, and is as susceptible to wrong targeting as other strikes, it is no more than an assassin’s blade wielded by a state rarely held to account for its actions.”