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New US Missile Causes Major Destruction09/01 06:28
(AP) -- It has been touted by the manufacturer as the ballistic missile of
the future: lethal, long-range and pinpoint. Lockheed Martin's Precision Strike
Missile has the U.S. military investing billions to update its arsenal.
But a close look at what is believed to be its first use in combat -- on the
first day of the Iran war -- highlights the potential peril of deploying this
weapon near population centers because it appears to spray pellets over a wide
area, according to a review by the conflict monitor Airwars and interviews with
weapons experts and former defense officials.
Three missiles that struck the southern city of Lamerd on Feb. 28 killed
civilians as far as 50 meters (164 feet) from where they detonated, and caused
damage more than three times farther away, Airwars found. The missiles
detonated above a sports complex and two residential neighborhoods, Airwars
found. The blasts killed at least 21 civilians, including seven children,
according to Iranian officials.
Airwars is the first to map the damage radius of the strikes in Lamerd and
estimate the lethal range of the weapon used.
The PrSM is designed to explode midair and propel tens of thousands of dense
metal pellets at high speed in all directions. Photos, videos and satellite
images of the Lamerd strikes' aftermath analyzed by Airwars and verified by The
Associated Press show buildings, streets and vehicles were heavily pockmarked
in a blast pattern that experts say is consistent with the PrSM's capabilities.
The U.S. military has confirmed firing PrSMs into Iran, but has denied
attacking Lamerd.
It is unclear who or what was the intended target in Lamerd. An Islamic
Revolutionary Guard Corps compound is located nearby, but satellite images
showed no damage there.
Six weapons experts, including two who are former military officials, told
AP they believe PrSMs struck Lamerd -- and they said it was unlikely that
Israeli or Iranian weapons were used. All said militaries should avoid firing
the PrSM at targets near civilian areas.
"You would be hard-pressed to find a reason to use the PrSM in a densely
populated area," said Michael Meier, a former U.S. Army adviser on the laws of
war.
How Airwars reached its conclusions
Airwars, a London-based nonprofit, was founded more than a decade ago to
track reports of civilian deaths from U.S. airstrikes in Syria and Iraq, and it
has also monitored conflicts in Gaza, Ukraine and elsewhere. It relies on
publicly available material, such as photos, videos, satellite images, social
media and news reports, and uses geolocation software and other tools to help
it analyze this evidence.
Airwars used these methods to investigate the strikes on Lamerd. It mapped
the approximate locations of the missiles' detonations, where civilians were
reported killed and where damage was visible and consistent with blast
patterns. It then measured the distances between the positions to estimate the
blast radius.
AP verified Airwars' blast radius estimate by measuring the distance between
where civilians were killed, based on Iranian media reports, and where the
missiles detonated midair, based on security camera and other videos. AP also
examined satellite images, photos and videos of damage from the attack sites.
Lockheed Martin, which did not respond to a request for comment, has not
said how wide the missile's impact is. It has released an animated video
modeling a PrSM blast.
US touted use of PrSMs in Iran, but denied attacking Lamerd
In a post to X on March 1, the day after Lamerd was struck, U.S. Central
Command included what munitions experts say was an image of the PrSM being
fired during the Iran operation. Three days later, it touted that PrSMs -- in a
"historic first" -- had been used in Iran, though not where.
Several weeks later, as reports about the strikes in Lamerd garnered media
attention, a spokesperson for Central Command said in a statement that U.S.
forces did not launch PrSMs or any weapons into Lamerd on Feb. 28, and that
they do not target civilians. The spokesperson said footage of one of the
strikes suggested it was an Iranian Hoveyzeh cruise missile.
Weapons experts said a missile seen in security camera video from Lamerd
does not match that Iranian model, which has a rounded engine.
The Israeli military told AP it did not strike anywhere in Iran as far south
as Lamerd on the first day of the war, and experts said Israel's military is
not known to have missiles that detonate midair.
When asked about Airwars' and AP's findings, U.S. Central Command reiterated
its denial of responsibility, saying that was based on an earlier review of
what happened there. Its commander, Adm. Brad Cooper, also told Congress in May
that they were only investigating one case of U.S. fire killing civilians -- a
strike on an Iranian school in Minab.
What the PrSM is meant to do
The new missiles are meant to replace the Army Tactical Missile System used
for decades, according to the U.S. military.
While the ATACMS can travel approximately 300 kilometers (186 miles), the
PrSM can hit targets over 499 kilometers (310 miles) away, Lockheed Martin says.
The PrSM differs from its predecessor in another key way. Where ATACMS
shatter into steel fragments or small bomblets over their target area, an
exploding PrSM fires tens of thousands of pellets made of tungsten in all
directions, Airwars and weapons experts say.
Because of tungsten's high density and melting point, the pellets retain
their shape after detonation. That makes them extremely lethal, capable of
piercing soft armor, according to defense journals.
Missiles in Lamerd caused damage far from where they exploded
Airwars found footage of a school in Lamerd that was damaged by the missile
detonated over the Shahid Naimi Sports Hall about 170 meters (557 feet) away.
That blast killed seven civilians, mostly children, Iranian state media
reported. Airwars says it used open-source material to confirm the deaths.
Among them were three teenage girls playing volleyball and a woman smoking a
hookah in front of her house.
A separate blast over the Tal-e Khandagh neighborhood killed 2-year-old
Avina Barzegar, who was playing in her yard. Airwars estimates the pellet that
struck Barzegar traveled 50 meters from the blast site. It reached that
conclusion by geolocating her house, based on a video showing its front gate,
and measuring the distance from the house to the site.
Neither Airwars nor AP could find any reports indicating that military or
security personnel were killed in the strikes, or that military infrastructure
was hit.
The US, UK and Australia are committed to buying more PrSMs
Since the Lamerd strikes, the Pentagon signed a contract worth over $4
billion with Lockheed Martin to quadruple PrSM production. The U.K. said in
June it had set aside 130 million pounds ($177 million) to procure the weapon.
Australia bought the missiles in 2025 and in April invested billions of dollars
into the PrSM program.
Weapons experts say the PrSM provides valuable new capabilities, but it
should be used carefully.
"Its proper use should be reserved for things like large concentrations of
enemy personnel with hard and soft armor," said Wes Bryant, a former Pentagon
adviser on precision warfare and civilian harm mitigation.
Trevor Ball, a former explosives expert for the U.S. Army, also urged
caution.
"It will kill people outside their homes who aren't protected by walls," he
said.
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