The Wall Street Journal revealed this week that the U.S. military has developed and deployed a secret knife missile that is being used to single out and kill terrorists with the kind of precision that even our highest-tech explosives cannot match. With this technology, the military is able to kill Islamists without harming nearby civilians, ushering in a new age of precision warfare.
Called the RX9, the missile is a modified Hellfire that dispenses with the explosive component to simply kill its target with sheer blunt force. Helping it achieve that goal are a series of long blades that pop out of the missile just before it reaches its destination. Through this method, the missile can shred to pieces any terrorist in its path. With this technology, the RX9 has earned the nickname “The Flying Ginsu.” Others call it the Ninja Bomb.
While news of this deadly missile is just now hitting the press, the weapon has actually been in development since 2011. The military, at that time, was concerned that the casualty rate among civilians in places like Pakistan and Afghanistan had the potential to serve as a recruiting tool for jihadists. Indeed, it was not long after that we saw ISIS rise from the ashes of Al Qaeda in Iraq, and some of their most potent propaganda came from stories of civilian deaths in Baghdad, Mosul, and elsewhere.
This weapon, explained on official to WSJ, was “for the express purpose of reducing civilian casualties.”
That said, deployment of the weapon has only just begun. It has only been used a handful of times in military operations in Libya, Syria, Yemen, Iraq, and Somalia. The military credited the RX9 with killing Jamal al-Badawi, the mastermind behind 2000’s Al Qaeda bombing of the USS Cole.
It was also the weapon responsible for killing Al Qaeda soldier Aby Khayr al Madri in Syria two years ago. In that execution, the missile’s precision was on full display – it did not even shatter the windshield of the vehicle carrying the terrorist to his destination.
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