On a late February morning in 2017 and al Qaeda deputy
leader was traveling through a small village in Syria's
Idlib province. Suddenly his ca was hit with a drone
strike, but there was no explosion. Instead, the roof
of the vehicle was caved in with parts of it sheared
like a razor blade went through it. The strike was a
success killing the deputy lead No one knew it at
the time, but this was a hallmark of a new weapon being
used by the US, the A. G. M. 114 R9X hellfire missile.
Since then, the R9X has been used multiple times
throughout Syria and at least once in Libya and
Afghanistan. It's also reported been used in other
nations like Somalia and Yemen. It's a bold and bizarre
new weapon in the U. S. arsenal. Finding and analyzi
images and video with our partners at Bellingcat show
us how the weapon has been used and how it could impact
the future of America's drone warfare. The R9X is
rarely used. Since 2017 there have only been 11
incidents where it is thought to have been utilized.
Most of these strikes targeted leaders of Al Qaeda or
Al Qaeda affiliated groups. According to a 2019 report
from The Wall Street Journal. Both the CIA and
Department of Defense used the R9X. And it has been
used in countries where the US has active
counterterrorism operations in. While non explosive or
inert munitions aren't new, the R9X is. It uses six
extending blades to increase the likelihood of killing
its intended target. The fact that it's inert is meant
to minimize civilian casualties The U. S. Drone
program has a well documented history of civilian
casualties. Even the highest US government estimates
are significantly lower than death totals compiled by
watchdog groups. One estimates a maximum of 801
civilian deaths. But while this idea of a non explosive
missile may seem good on its face. There's been a
steady stream of criticism about the R9X. Human Rights
Watch was quick to point out that the issue with many
strikes is that they have the wrong targets. The R9X is
only going to be as good as the intelligence used t
guide it, even if the US determines it wants to kill a
particular person, that doesn't mean that it can
legally do so. Under international law, you can't ju
go out and and kill somebody because you think they
might be a security threat. Though. It's worth noti
of the incidents that we've identified. There's been
relatively little collateral damage shown in pictures
and video from the area. In the earliest strike
identified the one from Februar 2017, only the car and
some bits of the roadway were damaged and the target
was killed. Other strikes follow a similar pattern.
Typically a vehicles photograph with its roof caved
in with distinctive cut marks in it. Sometimes there
are one or two small craters in the road showing whe
the missile or missiles impacted before the vehicle
rolled to a stop or crashed. Large remnants from th
missile are rare. In one case, after an incident
outside the Syrian city of Idlib, a large remnant was
salvaged and filmed on it. You can see the label of the
missile AGM 114, R9X. The orange ball is another clue.
Something that the drives war zone has identified as a
pneumatic accumulator or the part of the missile that
controls the fins. It is featured in other hellfire
variants as well. No blade has been fully intact after
the impact, but what is thought to be partial blades
have been pictured among the remnants from other
strikes, such as this one from December 3 in 2019.
Outside of a small city in Syria's Idlib Province, The
R9X has yet to be used in 2021, at least from what
visual media is available online. It may have something
to do with President Joe Biden's administr
attempts to tamp down on forever wars. But drone
strikes are still happening albeit more slowly than in
previous years. As recently as July, the US conducted a
more conventional drone strike in Somalia against Al
Qaeda's affiliate. There R9X could bring a new
dimension to the debate over US drone warfare and
whether it can ever truly be free of collateral damage
and human rights concerns.