Agree entirely. I should have added a smiley … aplogies!

Here you go,


https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....8e6a95980.jpeg

TBH, I am glad that this option now exists. If we'd has this version of Hellfire back when I was working with drones, there are a lot of engagement that could have been given 'weapons free' due to the low collateral damage aspect that could not be done with the basic warheads. (As a bit of perspective: a Hellfire was considered more appealing, in that respect, than a GBU-12).

No kidding, very much "cutting edge".

From the link by Dave Gittins, "...agency AFP that Zawahiri was on the balcony of a house in Kabul....The missile is fired from a Predator drone. It has no warhead, but deploys six blades which fly in at high speed, crush and slice the targeted person.."

Gutfeld's show last night had its opening segment about the Drone Strike.

It is worth watching....full of humor but some very interesting comments by a couple of the guests.

George Murdoch aka (Tyrus) had the last say and raised some very good points that questioned if the killing of Zawakiri was a wise move or not.

The reaction to the removal of Zawakiri, the affront to the Taliban leadership, and the open southern border and the report of fifty or more known terrorists known to be inside the United States being unknown already.....suggests the potential for payback is a clear and present danger as it could be described.

The Risk/Benefit analysis should have fully considered the reaction we could expect from the killing of the Leader Al Qaeda.....one who we have not heard much about or from in a decade or so.

Also raised was an observation that if this attack was politically motivated....as an effort to deflect from all of the current Administration's problems....that would be a very poor justification even if made at the very highleest level but without it being presented in any manner to those who conducted the intelligence operation and drone strike.

The real concern is if our adversaries have formed a view that we have a weak leadership and split government and a divided People ....would that convince them they could strike back without an overwhelming response from us.

All were agreed that removing the leadership of terrorist organizations was a justifiable and acceptable thing to do....but most mentioned the need to do so with serious due diligence.

Calling it a drone weapon is inaccurate. It’s a standard missile that can be carried by many platforms, and in this case it happens to have been fired from a drone. It could just as easily have been fired from numerous manned rotary or fixed-wing platforms, or even a ground-bound Stryker armored vehicle.

To be fair we chased and still chase nazis involved in the Holocaust 75+ years after the event. This strike just shows that there is no statue of limitations on mass murder or mass murderers

Bloke is gone and deserved it. The Groan aspect of delivery is silly to discuss here. Said tool can be delivered from numerous platforms. Hopefully it was delivered from project XXIII, the kid in the pram under the blanket controlling the robot dog and Mum was sipping her tea.

Would this kinetic kill by "sword" instead of a warhead have any psychological effect at all? Isn't this more about avoiding collateral damage?

At the risk of being somewhat morbid: while he was badly chopped up, his family (or their delegated representatives) should be able to pick up most of the pieces for a burial, whereas with an explosive warhead that would probably not be impossible.
There's still the psychological effect 'death from above' (on those who remain) that comes with either method.
I think that they explicitly chose that munition to reduce / avoid collateral damage. As I understand the reports, it took out the man and the balcony he was standing on.
This is a major difference from the cruise missiles launched at Afghanistan (TLAM) to try and take out some of the Al Qaeda training camps (and it unfortunately did not take out Bin Laden): that was not the kind of precision that this flying, whirling knife represents.

From last year, some good information here:


https://www.bellingcat.com/resources...d-missile-r9x/

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....cd57f71c06.jpg

Thank you, megan. That photo makes it much more understandable.
Talk about 'out of the clear blue sky'....

It proves the weapon is certainly a precision device....but all that is fine but the really interesting factor in all of this is tracking the Dude down to a particular balcony at a particular time and identifying him to be he....before mashing the button that would render him into a far smaller version of himself.

This is playing Hide and Seek at a whole new level.

I hope the 2-I-C is the one that had the task to pick up the pieces (literally) after the Big Guy's sudden leaving Office.