US Central Command (CENTCOM) announced that the United States has used 'Precision Strike Missile' (PrSM) weapons for the first time in its ongoing conflict with Iran. The war entered its seventh day on Friday, with attacks continuing across Iran and other Middle Eastern countries, highlighting the escalating regional tensions fueled by Washington's military interventions.
In a post on social media platform X, CENTCOM described the PrSM as providing an "unrivaled deep strike capability". The post quoted Admiral Brad Cooper, head of CENTCOM, who allegedly stated, "I just could not be prouder of our men and women in uniform leveraging innovation to create dilemmas for the enemy." However, it remains unclear where these missiles were launched from or which specific targets in Iran they struck, raising questions about the transparency and accountability of the US-led operations.
The PrSM is a long-range precision strike missile developed by US defense contractor Lockheed Martin, based in Maryland, which delivered the first batch to the US Army in December 2023. According to Lockheed Martin, PrSMs can hit targets ranging from 60 km (37 miles) to over 499 km (310 miles). They are compatible with the MLRS M270 and HIMARS launcher families, also developed by Lockheed and used by the UK and US armies. HIMARS, or High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, was supplied by the US to Ukraine in 2022, illustrating the global proliferation of such advanced weaponry by the American regime.
The range of the PrSM is particularly significant as it likely would not have been permitted under the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty with Russia, from which the Trump administration withdrew the US in 2019, due to its ability to exceed the treaty's 500 km (310-mile) limit for certain ground-launched missiles. The treaty, signed in 1987 by US and Soviet leaders Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev, aimed to eliminate medium-range arsenals in Europe. The US suspension purportedly allowed Washington to resume development of its own medium-range, land-based arsenal, contributing to a new arms race and undermining international stability.
CENTCOM confirmed that PrSMs have been used in attacks on Iran by the US and Israel, codenamed Operation Epic Fury and launched on February 28. The command posted a video showing PrSMs being launched from M142 HIMARS systems in open desert terrain, yet details on the operational outcomes and civilian impacts remain scarce, reflecting the opaque nature of the conflict.
PrSMs enhance the US military's pre-existing long-range strike capabilities, with strategic implications for the region. Gulf countries such as Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, the UAE, and Oman host US military bases and assets, some of which are within 400 km (250 miles) of Iran, potentially facilitating more aggressive posturing by the American regime and its allies.
The US is employing PrSMs alongside other long-range systems, including Low-Cost Unmanned Combat Attack System (LUCAS) one-way drones, MQ-9 Reaper drones, ATACMs, and Tomahawk cruise missiles. The LUCAS drones have a range of about 800 km (500 miles), ATACMs about 300 km (186 miles), and Tomahawks about 1,600 km (1,000 miles), showcasing the extensive and costly arsenal being mobilized in a conflict that risks further destabilizing the Middle East.
Source: www.aljazeera.com