New U.S. munition has damage radius of at least 170 metres, Airwars finds

A new U.S. missile propelled deadly pellets more than 150 metres from the site of the explosion, and killed Iranian civilians at least 50 metres away, an Airwars analysis of its apparent first usage in conflict has found.

The Precision Strike Missile (PrSM) has been veiled in secrecy but was reportedly used for the first time in the Iran war, with the U.S. Department of War subsequently awarding Lockheed Martin an $8.4 billion contract to expand its production.

Unlike most munitions which detonate when or after they hit a target, the PrSM is designed to explode shortly before it hits the ground – propelling tens of thousands of deadly pellets in a 360-degree direction. These pellets collide with anything in their path, leaving behind distinctive pockmarks when they hit buildings or roads.

An Airwars analysis of the destruction left behind by three apparent PrSM strikes on the first day of the Iran war in the city of Lamerd, found a damage radius of at least 170 metres in one case, with civilians recorded killed at least 50 metres from the estimated site of the explosion.

The attacks killed at least 21 civilians, including at least seven children and two women, with up to 170 others injured.

Neither the U.S. military nor Lockheed Martin have publicly given details on the PrSM's damage radius but Airwars found that promotional material implied a maximum radius of around 50 metres – a third of that tracked in Lamerd.

The findings have caused concerns about use of the PrSM, which appears set to be a key part of future U.S. military campaigns.

“You would be hard pressed to find a reason to use the PrSM in a densely populated area,” Michael Meier, a former Special Assistant to the Army Judge Advocate General for the Law of Armed Conflict, said. “Assuming the [lethality] radius is 100 metres, civilian casualties are inevitable.”

First known use in combat

Lockheed Martin has declared that PrSM missiles are launched from the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) and can strike targets up to 500 kilometres away. Each munition reportedly carries around 180,000 pellets. 

Other key details - including the distance the pellets can travel and the size of its warhead – have not been publicly declared.

On 28 February 2026, the first day of U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran, the U.S. allegedly used at least three PrSM missiles in the southern Iranian city of Lamerd.

The U.S. military continues to deny responsibility for the strikes and declined to answer detailed questions from Airwars, responding with a link to a CENTCOM statement that claimed that CCTV footage of the attack was “consistent with the dimensions and silhouette of an Iranian Hoveyzeh cruise missile”. But damage analysis from The New York Times pushed back against this claim, with experts interviewed stating that the impact was inconsistent with a Hoveyzeh missile. Its analysis confirmed that the missiles were PrSMs – marking the munition’s likely first known use in combat.

In the weeks after the strike, videos posted online showed no large craters, as would be expected from most missiles. Instead, buildings, streets, and vehicles were covered in thousands of pockmarks from the impact of apparent pellets over a wide area.

This distinctive fragmentation pattern is part of the munition’s design. The PrSM detonates between 15 metres to 20 metres above ground, leaving thousands of pockmarks rather than one large crater. Munitions experts say the Hoveyzeh cruise missile would be incapable of leaving such a pattern.

Visual evidence and testimonies indicate explosions took place in three separate locations across a 550 metre distance – the Shahid Naimi sports hall and the residential neighbourhoods of Shahrak Isar and Tal-e Khandagh.

By bringing together footage from Iranian journalists and testimonies recorded by reporters that visited the site, Airwars mapped a visual spread of the damage, assessing the fragmentation radius and the lethal range.

As the PrSM detonates midair, it is difficult to determine the exact epicentre of each strike. But by reviewing all publicly available imagery, including CCTV footage that captured two of the explosions, Airwars was able to use line of sight analysis to estimate the near exact locations.

Combined with witness testimonies conducted by journalists on the ground, the investigation also mapped the locations where civilians were killed, enabling an estimate of the munition’s lethal radius.

Three strikes in 31 seconds

CCTV footage analysed by Iranian media found that the strikes occurred over last than a minute, according to a local resident.  

The first strike reportedly hit the residential neighbourhood of Shahrak Isar at 17:37:46. Airwars identified damage almost 80 meters from the estimated impact site based on pellet damage to an electricity pole featured in this video. Masoumeh Monfared and her son Abedin Gharibdoos were reportedly killed in front of their house, around 40 metres away from the approximate epicentre. 

The second strike reportedly hit the Tal-e Khandagh neighborhood at 17:37:56. This missile killed the youngest recorded fatality. Two-year old Avina Barzegar was reportedly killed whilst playing in the front yard of her home. A memorial plaque has since been placed in front of the house, identifying the location where she was killed, approximately 50 metres away from the estimated impact site. This strike has an observable damage radius of at least 50 metres, based on pellet damage in the vicinity of Avina’s home, captured in this video. 

The third strike reportedly hit Shahid Naimi sports hall at 17:38:17, killing at least seven civilians, mostly children. Among those killed was 12-year-old Ilya Khatami, reportedly hit while fleeing the attack after playing football. In this videocast, an eye witness shows the location where Ilya was hit by the lethal pellets. Airwars estimates Ilya was killed more than 50 metres from the epicentre - the furthest recorded fatality of all three strikes. Ilya was killed alongside another boy, Abdul Mosavar Rahmani, and their football coach, Mahmoud Najafi. At least two teenage girls – Helma Ahmadizadeh and Elham Zaeri – were reportedly killed inside the sports centre whilst practising volleyball.

The furthest documented damage was also from the third strike. This video shows blast impact to a learning centre which sustained damage to the interior and exterior of the building. The building is approximately 170 metres away from the location of the strike on Shahid Naimi sports hall.

The damage radius for the former two strikes is likely greater, but available imagery limited the findings. Additional on-the-ground research would provide further clarity.

The three strikes occurred in residential neighbourhoods and civilian-use buildings. No reports indicate that militants were killed, or military infrastructure was hit. An Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) compound is located north of the Shahid Naimi sports hall, but no reports suggest the compound was targeted by the strikes that day.

“You have to assess the lawful military target that you’re trying to engage and the anticipated effects of a munition and whether that’s going to be excessive,” said Meier, who has written about legal concerns related to the PrSM. “It is unknown whether the IRGC base was a high value target or, where it ranked in the hierarchy of things we wanted to destroy. But since it’s still there, I’m not sure it’s very high.”

More destructive than advertised

The U.S. Department of War and Lockheed Martin have never publicly stated the PrSM’s fragmentation or lethal radius, and neither responded to questions about it. The U.S. military has publicly stated only that the munition has “an unrivalled deep strike capability”.

A video released by Lockheed Martin depicts a 3D rendered military scene of a PrSM targeting an air defence battery’s engagement radar. A visual analysis of the radar shows it is likely modeled off a 92N6 Grave Stone radar, which is 12.7 metres in length.

As distance from the detonation point increases, the pellets become more widely dispersed. In the video, pellet density is colour-coded, allowing Airwars to estimate the munition’s fragmentation area. By comparing the known dimensions of the Grave Stone radar with the illustrated impact area, Airwars measured an inner zone of dense fragmentation extending to roughly 15 metres, represented by the yellow dots. Fragment density declines at around 25 metres, where the colour shifts from red to purple, before reaching a maximum illustrated fragmentation radius of approximately 50 metres.

But the aftermath of the strike in Lamerd suggests a far wider area of impact.

The PrSM appears to be an upgrade on another U.S. munition - the Alternate Warhead version of the Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System (GMLRS-AW). Also produced by Lockheed Martin, the GMLRS-AW is also designed to propel tens of thousands of pellets in all directions. But the GMLRS-AW has a range of just 70 kilometres, less than a sixth of the PrSM.

In July the Department of War announced an $8.4 billion contract with Lockheed Martin to accelerate PRsM production. Shortly after, the United Kingdom announced it had also reached a deal to purchase PrSM munitions.

This large scale investment by powerful militaries signals that the munition is likely to play an increasingly prominent role in future conflicts, despite the risk to civilians.