A laser-guided Hellfire missile traveling at 230 mph killed Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani in his car outside the Baghdad International Airport on Thursday.
The airstrike was ordered by President Trump and came from an MQ-9 Reaper drone made by U.S. company General Atomics. The $70 million drone plane carries a payload of four laser-guided Hellfire missiles.
Experts claim the MQ-9 Reaper is “nearly silent” and that Soleimani wouldn’t have heard anything before the strike.
Iraqi militia commander Abu Muntather al Hussaini said Soleimani, 62, and militia leader Mahdi al Muhandis, 66, were traveling in the same car when the missile hit.
“The MQ-9 Reaper is the perfect weapon system for this job and highlights airpower’s ability to project accurate, timely, and lethal power,” retired Air Force Lt. Gen. David Deptula told the Washington Examiner.
The strike was conducted out of U.S. Central Command headquarters in Qatar after Iranian-backed militants surrounded the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad and chanted “Death to America!” on New Year’s Eve.
