US military uses PrSM for first time in combat, says CENTCOM

WASHINGTON — US Central Command said today Lockheed Martin-made Precision Strike Missiles (PrSMs) were used for the first time in combat since they were fielded to the Army at the end of 2023. 

“In a historic first, long-range Precision Strike Missiles (PrSMs) were used in combat during Operation Epic Fury, providing an unrivaled deep strike capability,” read a post on X from CENTCOM’s official account.

“I just could not be prouder of our men and women in uniform leveraging innovation to create dilemmas for the enemy,” CENTCOM Commander Adm. Brad Cooper said in the post. 

The post included a video showing a PrSM launching in the desert from a M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS). The missiles are also capable of being from M270A2 Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS). CENTCOM did not respond to a request for comment regarding the targets of the launch. 

The missile shown in the video is part of the PrSM Increment 1 program, which was created to replace Lockheed’s MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS), and hit targets at least 500 kilometers away. 

As Breaking Defense previously reported, future versions of the PrSM include Increment 2 with a multimode seeker, known as the Land-Based Anti-Ship Missile seeker, and a PrSM Increment 3 which would seek to add in enhanced lethality payloads.

Further, the Army has tapped a Lockheed Martin team and a Raytheon Technologies-Northrop Grumman team to work on competing PrSM Increment 4 designs that can fly more than 1,000 km, double the range of the current version. The Army also said it was looking for a fifth version of the PrSM that can fly more than 1,000 km and fire from an autonomous launcher. Increment1 is the only PrSM program that’s been fielded at this time. 

In terms of Operation Epic Fury, CENTCOM has confirmed in social media posts that other weapons the US has used include B-2 bombers, F-35 Lightning II fighter jets, and the new Low-cost Unmanned Combat Attack System (LUCAS) one-way attack drone, which CENTCOM said is modeled after the Shahed-136 drone used regularly by Iran. 

Other Army weapons used in the operation so far include Patriot and Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) and other undisclosed counter-drone weapons. The targets have ranged from command and control centers, ballistic missile and drone sites, Iranian ships and submarines, airfields and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps headquarters, according to CENTCOM.