America's Newest Missile Made Its Combat Debut Over Iran on Day One — and Hit Civilians

The Strike and the Identification

On February 28, 2026 — the first day of the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran — two near-simultaneous strikes hit the city of Lamerd in Iran's Fars province, according to BBC Verify. Lamerd is a city of approximately 30,000 people, according to the 2016 Iranian census cited by BBC Verify. The two strikes were separated by approximately 300 metres: one struck residential buildings, the other hit a sports hall adjacent to an elementary school, according to BBC Verify and the New York Times.

Iranian state media reported that at least 21 people were killed in the strikes, according to BBC Verify, the New York Times, and multiple additional sources. CENTCOM declined to comment on the Lamerd strikes, according to BBC Verify.

Three analysts at the defence intelligence company Janes and an expert at McKenzie Intelligence identified the projectile visible in CCTV footage of the residential building strike as likely a Precision Strike Missile (PrSM), according to BBC Verify. Their analysis was based on the projectile's shape, length, blast signature, and lack of visible nose-mounted controls, according to BBC Verify.

Amael Kotlarski, an analyst with Janes, stated that based on those characteristics and the distance from potential U.S. launch sites in the Middle East, "the PrSM is likely the only munition in the American arsenal that could have hit the town," according to BBC Verify.

McKenzie Intelligence additionally noted that Lamerd was "within the extended range" of the PrSM and that "US Central Command has admitted to using PrSM in strikes from the desert of an unnamed Gulf country against Iran in the early phases of the conflict," according to BBC Verify.

The New York Times Visual Investigations team independently verified the same footage and reached the same conclusion, noting that "the weapon features, explosions and damage are consistent with a short-range ballistic missile called the Precision Strike Missile, or PrSM." The Times identified that the missile "is designed to detonate just above its target and blast small tungsten pellets outward" — and that aftermath photos showed "both sites were pockmarked with holes, apparently from the tungsten pellets," according to the Times.

CENTCOM's Own Confirmation

CENTCOM did not deny PrSM use in Iran. In fact, within the first 24 hours of the war, U.S. Central Command released a video montage documenting "the first 24 hours of Operation Epic Fury" — the U.S. designation for American operations against Iran. That montage, posted to CENTCOM's official social media, included an image clearly showing a PrSM being launched from a wheeled M142 HIMARS launcher, according to The War Zone (TWZ), which was first to identify the weapon in the CENTCOM video.

The montage also included a picture of an M142 loaded with what appeared to be a two-cell ammunition pod — consistent with PrSM's packaging. ATACMS, the PrSM's predecessor, uses single-missile pods. The PrSM's two-per-pod configuration is a publicly known feature, according to The War Zone.

General Dan Caine, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, stated at a press conference on March 13: "In just the first 13 days of this operation, our artillery forces have made history. They fired the first precision strike missiles ever used in combat, reaching deep into enemy territory," according to The War Zone and Tribune India.

The conflict marks the first confirmed combat use of the PrSM, which entered service in December 2023, according to Army Recognition and The War Zone. The Department of Defense confirmed this was the weapon's combat debut, according to BBC Verify.

What the PrSM Is

The Precision Strike Missile is a surface-to-surface short-range ballistic missile developed by Lockheed Martin to replace the Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS). It is fired from the same M142 HIMARS or M270 MLRS launcher systems used for ATACMS and guided artillery rockets, according to The War Zone and Lockheed Martin.

The PrSM Increment 1 — the variant now in service — has a maximum range of at least 500 kilometers (approximately 310 miles), according to Wikipedia and Army Recognition. This nearly doubles the effective range of the ATACMS, which maxes out at approximately 300 kilometers (186 miles), according to Army Recognition. Lockheed Martin's product page lists range capability as "499+ kilometers."

A key tactical distinction: ATACMS pods hold one missile each; PrSM pods hold two, allowing an M142 HIMARS launcher to carry twice the number of ballistic missiles per sortie, according to The War Zone.

ATACMS is the missile Ukraine has used against Russian targets; the PrSM was not available to Ukraine and had not been used in any prior conflict before February 28, 2026, according to The War Zone.

The PrSM uses an airburst detonation mechanism designed to scatter tungsten pellets downward over a target area — a design suited to defeating dispersed personnel or parked equipment, according to the New York Times' description of the weapon's effects. This munition type creates a wide fragmentation pattern, which raises distinct concerns when civilian structures are in proximity.

The Intended Target and the Civilian Proximity

The intended target of the Lamerd strikes appears to have been an IRGC base located adjacent to the sports hall, according to BBC Verify. However, BBC Verify reported that the IRGC base building appeared undamaged on high-resolution satellite imagery taken on March 9, while the sports hall and residential buildings were struck.

The New York Times noted that the attack "occurred the same day as a U.S. Tomahawk cruise missile struck a school in the city of Minab, several hundred miles away, killing 175 people." Lamerd involved a different weapon and different targeting, but both incidents occurred on February 28 — the war's first day — and both struck civilian structures near apparent military targets.

A Janes analyst told BBC Verify that although it is not possible to identify the munition used on the sports hall from video alone, "photos of the aftermath point to evidence consistent with a PrSM warhead" given the fragmentation pattern and density visible on the building. The analyst added: "This is the first time we are seeing the PrSM in action, so we have nothing to compare it to."

CENTCOM did not respond to BBC Verify's request for comment on the Lamerd strikes specifically. Neither CENTCOM nor the Pentagon has publicly acknowledged or denied responsibility for the Lamerd deaths as of the reporting available through March 30, 2026.

Why It Matters Beyond the Casualties

The PrSM's combat debut in Iran is significant for reasons beyond the Lamerd strike. Its confirmed operational range of 500 kilometers from unnamed Gulf launch sites demonstrates that the U.S. can strike targets across a substantial portion of Iran from Gulf-based HIMARS launchers without requiring aircraft overflight or carrier-based operations. ATACMS could not have reached Lamerd from the same launch positions, according to the Janes analysis cited by BBC Verify.

The deployment also signals that the Iran war has served as the PrSM's live testing environment. The missile was in service for only approximately 26 months before its first use in combat, according to the December 2023 service entry date and the February 28, 2026 combat debut. That is a substantially compressed timeline between service entry and combat use compared to many prior-generation systems.

For allied and adversary nations — including China, which closely monitors U.S. Army ground-based long-range strike capabilities — the Iran war's documented PrSM use provides the first real-world data on the weapon's employment, range, and effects. The War Zone noted that PrSM's longer range "much expanded target areas that American units can now hold at risk," a capability directly relevant to Indo-Pacific scenarios involving Taiwan.