Over the weekend, the CIA found and killed Ayman al-Zawahiri, who had been al Qaeda's leader since 2011 following the killing of Osama bin Laden. Al-Zawahiri reportedly targeted a Hellfire missile equipped with a sword rather than explosives. This is not the first time a terroris

Over the weekend, the CIA found and killed Ayman al-Zawahiri, who had been Al Qaeda's leader since 2011 following the Osama bin Laden killing. Al-Zawahiri reportedly targeted a Hellfire missile equipped with a sword rather than explosives. This is not the first time a terrorist leader has reportedly been killed by the unusual Hellfire missile.

Although these operations were kept secret, they could not help but leave a business card for the United States-because the missile itself was not destroyed on impact.

All that remains is the broken casing of a Hellfire missile with six 18-inch blades in its middle. These blades can crush, cut and kill anyone within about three feet of impact.

While traditional Hellfire missiles kill bystanders and targets by combining explosive force with shrapnel projection, this blade-carrying cousin of the Hellfire offers a way to take out a bad guy while keeping people standing just a few feet away Where he escaped unscathed.

Illustration of a blade-carrying Hellfire missile.

Despite its brutal appearance, which appears to be loaded with six retractable swords for precision-guided Hellfire missiles, this weapon has so far proven to be more effective against civilians than most other methods of attacking high-value targets at long range. It's safer. Instead of destroying an entire building or city block, the weapon could target specific seats in a vehicle.

Developed by the CIA under the Obama administration and used by the US's highly secretive Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), the AGM-114R9X or sword-filled Hellfire can be considered an elegant but medieval solution to the problem of terrorists exploiting civilians solution as protection against air strikes.

Watch the video to learn more about the marriage of 21st century technology with one of the oldest weapons of war, the sword.

The Ninja Sword Hellfire missile saw a sharp rise in news reports in late 2019 after it was used twice to kill different terrorists in Syria in less than a week. The first attack occurred on December 3, when an AGM-114R9X was used to specifically target the passenger seat of a minivan in the Syrian city of Atmeh. The second strike occurred somewhere between Afrin and Azaz, again killing the target without harming any bystanders.