Recently, the news of the murder of Hamas leader Haniyeh has caused a global sensation. As the leader of Hamas, Haniyeh's death will undoubtedly have a profound impact on the organization and the situation in the region. What kind of mysterious weapon led to the death of this important person? Let's explore this together!
According to foreign media reports, Hania died in a hospital in Tehran, the capital of Iran, on the 13th local time at the age of 67. It is reported that he suddenly collapsed during a speech and was subsequently rushed to the hospital for treatment. However, in the end, there was no way back. There are different opinions about the reason for Chania's killing. Some believe it may have something to do with the Hamas group he leads; There is also speculation that this may have been the work of Israel agents. But so far, no official body or individual has made a clear statement on this matter. After the news of Haniyeh's death broke, the Palestinian-Israeli conflict escalated again. Hamas, for its part, said it would open an investigation into the incident and vowed to make the perpetrators pay the price. Israel, for its part, said it had no knowledge of the matter and called on the international community to remain calm and avoid further deterioration of the situation.
We really don't know much about the details of this assassination. However, according to Hamas's boss Khalil · Haya at a press conference in Tehran, the capital of Iran, there is already some reliable news. Haya said that several eyewitnesses reported seeing a missile that blew up where Haniyeh lived, and then caused a super-explosion, as a result of which neither Chania nor his bodyguards survived. In particular, the doors, windows, and walls of the scene were blown to pieces. According to this description, the missile should have exploded through the window. Haya's account specifically mentions the extent of the damage to the walls, doors and windows, suggesting that the house was not completely destroyed, only that the area of the explosion was very badly damaged.
It seems that if these accounts are true, then the assassins used those small missiles with ultra-high accuracy. Generally speaking, the kind of missile we usually see, its warhead weighs more than 100 kilograms, so if such a missile explodes, the power must be enough to raze the entire building to the ground. In reality, however, only the walls and windows were badly blown up, which indicates that the missiles are not very large.
The missile can fly into the room from the window without error, which shows that its strike accuracy is at least the meter level, which is not so easy to do in ordinary missiles, even if it is a missile on an airplane, cruise missile or ballistic missile, it can reach an accuracy of ten meters is already very good. So we can guess that this high-precision small missile is likely to use a guidance technology called "man-in-the-loop", which is famous for its high accuracy and allows the operator to monitor the strike effect in real time. This guidance method is probably a key factor in evaluating the success of those who want to assassinate them.
In this investigation, we have to eliminate the blade-shaped "Hellfire" missiles used by United States and Israel, because they can't blow up at all. So what missiles do United States and Israel have in their hands that meet this requirement? There's a lot going on here! The main thing is the "Spike" missile produced by Israel, as well as the IGM-100 79 missile produced by United States itself. This "Spike" missile is not an ordinary commodity, it is a kind of fiber-optic guided anti-tank weapon, and the most awesome thing is that the entire process from the beginning of the launch to the final hit of the target can be controlled by people. And the latest Spike missile is also equipped with a wireless data link, so that it can be launched secretly and then locked onto the target.
There are many types of missiles, the general range is about 2 to 8 kilometers, but if it is equipped with a wireless data link, the range of the new "Spike" can reach 25 kilometers, which is very suitable for helicopters or vehicles. Theoretically, as long as it is a missile that can be mounted on a helicopter, it can be carried by a drone. If you want to use it on the ground, you only need to modify the small pickup truck or van a little. Because the missile itself weighed only 71 kilograms, the situation at the scene clearly pointed to the "Spike" missile as the culprit of the operation, according to the description at the press conference.
Now, let's look at another missile - the IGM179. This guy looks about the same as "Hellfire", but it's a little bigger. The IMG179 is just over two meters long, 200 millimeters in diameter, and weighs 49 kilograms. Those models that got up early had a range of only nine kilometers; Later, some new goods came out, and the range was able to hit sixteen kilometers away. The latest version is even more powerful, using infrared imaging guidance, which can be used at night or in bad weather. In addition, you can pass on what you see to the sight so that they can see it clearly, so that you can hit it much more accurately. Considering that this assassination was actually done at two o'clock in the morning, that time was quite appropriate for the guidance performance of the IGM179. It is also about the same size as the environment at the time of the incident.
This missile can not only be used by various helicopters of the United States military, but even the "Gray Eagle" drone can be installed, and may even be put into the magazine of the F35 stealth fighter. The size and weight are there, and if you modify it properly, you might even fit it into a car or van. So, IGM179 is likely to be one of the culprits of the so-called assassination of Chania. But at this point, we're not done talking about it yet. When the time comes, how to operate this missile is the real problem. Both missiles can be airdropped and launched on land, of course, it is certainly reasonable for drones to be launched in the air when they fly into the sky, and IMG179 can be carried even by the wingless F35 fighter.
When it comes to using drones or F-35 stealth fighters to carry out this assassination mission, we must first discuss the geographical factor. You see, Tehran is on the territory of Iran, not far from the Caspian Sea, but it is far from Israel, more than a thousand kilometers away. According to this distance, if the F-35 flies directly over, it will not be able to fly that far, because its combat radius is so large, and if you want to fly over, you have to refuel in the air, maybe you have to pass through the airspace of Syria, Iraq, Jordan, etc., then the task becomes much more complicated. As for drones, you have to use the kind of medium-altitude and long-endurance drones at such a long distance, such as our Chinese Rainbow-4 or Rainbow-5 models.
But let's be honest, if you really want these drones to fly this more than 1,000 kilometers distance, they have to rely on satellite navigation, and because of the slow flight speed, it takes several hours to fly over. Therefore, it is naturally impossible to take off from Israel itself to carry out this mission. But we can still find a way. You see, doesn't the US military still have a base in Iraq? It's less than 600 kilometers from Tehran, and it's much easier to let a drone or F-35 take off from there than from Israel, and it's a piece of cake for both the drone and the F-35. Besides, the drone can also be launched from an offshore platform in the Persian Gulf, which is also about 600 kilometers away from Tehran.
The next question we want to discuss is, when the F-35 fighter and drone go on an assassination mission at night, will they be discovered? If you want them to choose a mission in the middle of the night or early in the morning, plus they know how to fly low to avoid radar detection, and they can also carefully design the flight path, then they can pass through the sparsely populated deserts, Gobi deserts and mountains of Iran, then the chance of detection is greatly reduced. However, compared to drones, because the F-35 is faster, the probability of successfully completing the mission may be slightly smaller.
In addition, it cannot be completely ruled out that someone will sneak up to Tehran and drop a few missiles at the target, which may be more reliable. Of course, there are also the drones that explode or the agents who plant the bombs in advance, which we have to consider. No matter which method or weapon is used, as long as you look at the traces left at the scene, you can roughly know what tricks the other party is doing. In the end, it is still unknown when Iran will speak out about this. These are all speculations based on the information we have so far, and can only be regarded as a conjecture.