PrSM missile debut tied to civilian deaths in southern Iran, inquiry finds

The combat debut of a new American precision ballistic missile has raised sharp concerns among defense specialists after an investigation revealed widespread civilian harm in southern Iran. Findings published by the monitoring group Airwars, corroborated by The Associated Press, indicate that Lockheed Martin's Precision Strike Missile, or PrSM, poses severe risks to civilian populations when fired near built-up communities.

Three munitions struck the city of Lamerd on February 28, 2026, exploding above two residential areas and an athletic facility. Iranian officials reported that the strikes killed at least 21 noncombatants, including seven children. Airwars mapped the blast radius and established that the munitions killed individuals located up to 50 meters from the detonation points, while blast damage stretched more than three times that distance.

Among the casualties confirmed through open-source imagery and local reports were three teenage girls participating in a volleyball game at the Shahid Naimi Sports Hall, where an overhead detonation also sprayed fragments that damaged a school approximately 170 meters away. In another neighborhood, a two-year-old child was fatally struck by high-velocity shrapnel while playing in her family yard, roughly 50 meters from an explosion.

Engineered to succeed the decades-old Army Tactical Missile System, the PrSM offers a range exceeding 499 kilometers. Rather than dispersing traditional steel fragments or submunitions, the warhead is designed to burst midair and propel tens of thousands of dense tungsten pellets across a broad perimeter. These high-speed pellets easily penetrate soft armor and retain structural integrity upon impact.

Six munitions specialists consulted by the AP, including two former military officials, concluded that the fragmentation patterns seen on vehicles, streets, and structures in Lamerd aligned with the PrSM. The analysts asserted that neither Iranian cruise missiles nor Israeli weaponry matched the physical evidence or the midair burst characteristics seen in local security footage. Former US Army law-of-war adviser Michael Meier noted that finding justification to employ such a munition within populated centers would be exceedingly difficult.

The US military has confirmed launching PrSMs during operations in Iran, describing the debut as an operational milestone. However, US Central Command denied responsibility for the Lamerd incident, suggesting instead that the blast involved an Iranian cruise missile—an assessment disputed by independent weapons analysts. Central Command maintained that its forces did not attack Lamerd and pointed to an internal review clearing US involvement. Israeli authorities also stated that their forces did not conduct strikes as far south as Lamerd during that opening phase.

Satellite imagery showed no signs of damage to an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps compound situated nearby, and no military personnel or defense infrastructure were reported harmed in the city. Despite the scrutiny over the weapon's lethal perimeter, the Pentagon has committed more than $4 billion to expand PrSM manufacturing, while allied nations including the United Kingdom and Australia have dedicated substantial funding to acquire the systems.