Dropping a barrel bomb? Apparently there’s an app for it.

Wanton death and destruction from the sky? There’s an app for it.

According to a recent article in IHS Jane’s Defense, the Syrian Air Force uses iPad apps to help drop explosive, and sometimes chlorine-filled, barrel bombs from the rear of their aging fleet of transport helicopters.

The Syrian military’s possible use of Apple products was just one piece of information gleaned from an Al-Jazeera interview, and subsequent analysis from Jane’s Defense, with Col. Ali Aboud of the Syrian Arab Air Force. According to the article Aboud has been held by the Syrian al-Qaeda affiliate–Jabhat al-Nusra–since his Mi-14 helicopter crashed in March. He was allowed to do the interview from captivity.

When it comes to dropping barrel bombs, Aboud says that the helicopter pilots fly at 5,000 meters — close to the maximum altitude of the aircraft to avoid air defenses—and use iPad applications to help calculate “wind speed, aircraft speed and their distance from the target to ensure accurate bombing results.” Additionally, he denied having dropped chlorine-filled barrel bombs himself, but said that Syrian President Bashir al-Assad’s regime dropped them on areas “completely controlled by opposition groups.”

It is unclear what app has been used specifically, but there are numerous flight navigation apps on the Apple App Store that lend themselves to aeronautical navigation. It is unclear how accurate they might be when it comes to helicopter-based combat operations.

The international Chemical Weapons Convention bans the use of chlorine in weapons, but, the chemical was exempt from the 2013 deal that forced Assad to hand over his chemical weapons cache because of its industrial uses, including water purification. In April, Human Rights watch released a report outlining multiple incidents of chlorine-filled barrel bombs being dropped on civilian populated areas in Idlib province.

The interview with the captured pilot, which aired July 8, also detailed various aspects and shortcomings of Assad’s air campaign. According to Aboud, 90 percent of the Syrian air force’s helicopters had either crashed or had been destroyed, leaving only 45 operational.

Aboud, a navy helicopter pilot forced into the regular air force due to helicopter shortages, noted that while Assad is low on helicopters, the Syrian air force still has a sufficient number of jet fighters, including MiG-21s, 23s and 29s.

A captured video from the cockpit of Aboud’s helicopter can be watched below. Note what looks to be an iPad at 2:49.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/checkpoint/wp/2015/07/13/dropping-a-barrel-bomb-apparently-theres-an-app-for-it/