The US military is launching new ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, and attack drones at Iran, using the conflict to test experimental weapons in combat for the first time.
Adm. Brad Cooper, the head of US Central Command, confirmed on Tuesday that US Army units fired the Precision Strike Missile, or PrSM, at Iranian targets, calling it “a historic first” and “an unrivaled, deep-strike capability.”
The PrSM is a short-range ballistic missile that entered service just over two years ago and can be fired from an M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, or HIMARS, launcher. It is manufactured by the US defense contractor Lockheed Martin and costs an estimated $1.6 million on the low end.
US officials said over the weekend that HIMARS had been used to strike Iran, though they declined to disclose which specific munitions were launched. Visuals of the strikes, however, strongly indicated that the PrSM had been used.
The PrSM’s operational debut “signals the beginning of a new chapter of Army strike capability, with significantly greater reach and accuracy,” Patrycja Bazylczyk, an associate director at the Center for Strategic and International Studies’ Missile Defense Project, told Business Insider.
The PrSM is not the only new munition whose debut has been confirmed by the US military since American and Israeli forces began striking Iran on Saturday.
Hours after the first bombs dropped, CENTCOM, which oversees the military’s Middle East operations, said its Scorpion Strike task force had used one-way attack drones for the first time in combat.
CENTCOM established the task force in December, marking the first American one-way attack drone squadron in the region. Its combat debut over the weekend demonstrates a relatively rapid turnaround from fielding to operational use.
The new task force employs the Low-Cost Unmanned Combat Attack System, or LUCAS. US officials said that it is based on the Iranian-made Shahed, a drone that has gained notoriety because of its extensive use by Tehran in the Middle East and by Russia in Ukraine. Each costs roughly $35,000 apiece.
“These drones were originally an Iranian design. We took them back to America, made them better, and fired them right back at Iran,” Cooper said in a video address on Tuesday.
The heavy use of cheap one-way attack drones in Ukraine and the Middle East has forced military leaders to explore more cost-efficient air defense options so that they aren’t left relying on expensive surface-to-air or air-to-air missiles.
Bazylczyk said that “headlines have been dominated by recounts of US forces using million-dollar interceptors against thousand-dollar drones.”
“The cost imbalance is shifting,” she added. “The employment of LUCAS drones against Iran demonstrates that the US is willing to give Iran a taste of their own medicine.”
Dan Rice, a former US Army artillery officer who served as a special advisor to Ukraine’s military leadership, said that the PrSM and LUCAS were likely selected for their strikes based on “proper targeting,” rather than the US trying to show off its capabilities.
“Targets have been planned for a long time in most cases,” Rice told Business Insider, adding that a thorough planning process matches the right weapons with the desired combat effects. “These new weapons are part of our platform and are doing their role.”
That said, their use in combat gives the US valuable operational information about these capabilities.
The US military has hit more than 2,000 targets in Iran, the Pentagon said on Wednesday. Many of these strikes have been carried out by ground forces and aircraft, including stealth bombers and fighter jets.
US Navy destroyers have also played a key role, firing Tomahawk cruise missiles at Iranian targets.
Images of one launch from the destroyer USS Spruance on Saturday show a Tomahawk with what appears to be a black, glossy coating, notably different from the typical gray color that the cruise missiles usually sport.
Defense experts have said that the black coloring may be a low-observable coating. The War Zone, a military news site, reported that the missile could be an upgraded version of the Maritime Strike Tomahawk, used for anti-ship strikes. CENTCOM declined to provide additional information on the weapon.
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