The West no longer wants to engage in land operations (the so-called boots on the ground), therefore, in recent years, has resorted to air interventions, both with piloted carriers, and with a massive use of APR (Remote Piloted Aircraft).
Furthermore, the political class does not want collateral damage to occur, as it would have a negative effect on public opinion. That is, as defined by the US state department, involuntary injury or damage to persons or objects that represent legitimate military objectives in the circumstances of the moment. Such damage is not illegal as long as it is not excessive in proportion to the overall military advantage expected from the attack.
So, thanks to the evolution of the armed drone, the western armed forces (especially the American ones) can hit their targets by eliminating the risks for the personnel employed. However, especially in an urban environment, the possibility of causing damage to non-combatants remains excessively high.
For this reason, the Pentagon has developed a new version of the AGM-114R HELLFIRE laser guided missile, capable of hitting a target without causing damage outside of it, called the AGM-114R9X.
I Reaper Americans, equipped with the new HELLFIRE, have been the authors of a dozen attacks in recent years.
The new HELLFIRE, instead of the explosive head, has an inert metal cylinder with six blades that propagate outwards just before hitting the target. The metal cylinder acts as a penetrator, allowing the missile to perforate even relatively solid surfaces (the weight of the missile however remains around 50 kg).
The purpose of the blades would be to implement the odds of success, especially against moving targets, also increasing the missile's range of action.
Action radius is limited by the extension of the blades themselves, which should be 45 cm (therefore the new HELLFIRE should have an action radius of about 1 meter).
The blades should be attached to the indenter and folded back inside the missile. It is not yet clear whether the blades extend a moment before hitting the target or on impact, taking advantage of the effect of gravity.
The Wall Street Journal published, using Pentagon sources, revealed that the new HELLFIRE would be used against targets in Libya, Syria, Yemen, Iraq and Somalia.
On December 3, an AGM-114R9X hit a Mitsubishi Delica in Atmeh (pictured below) in northern Syria, killing Abu Ahmad al-Muhajir, a prominent member of the Salafist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham. ISIS member Abu Sanad was killed four days later, near Aleppo, aboard a Hyundai Santa Fe. While on 12 January 2020, in Afghanistan, the Taliban's head of financial operations, Pakistani Muhib Ullah, was eliminated on board a Toyota Corolla.
Thus, the purpose of the new HELLFIRE is to eliminate targets without causing collateral damage, which is now intolerable for western governments.
Photo: Twitter
