The Iran-US war is putting a new generation of missiles into combat, as both sides deploy weapons capable of striking from farther away while giving defenses less time to respond.
The US has deployed its Precision Strike Missile (PrSM) for the first known time in combat, while Iran says it has used its Kheibar Shekan, a missile capable of reaching US military targets across much of the Middle East.
Though designed for different purposes, both highlight a growing challenge in missile warfare: Weapons can be launched from mobile platforms, strike targets at greater distances and leave defenses less time to respond.
So what makes these weapons different, how have they been used in the war and what do they say about the future of missile warfare?
The PrSM is essentially the US Army's new generation of ground-launched ballistic missile -- designed to fly farther than its predecessor while allowing troops to carry more missiles on launch vehicles already in service.
It is replacing the Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS), a missile developed during the Cold War and first used in combat during the 1991 Gulf War.
The baseline PrSM has a range of about 500 kilometers (311 miles), compared with about 300 kilometers (186 miles) for the longest-range versions of ATACMS.
That means an Army unit could potentially strike a target from more than 200 kilometers (124 miles) farther away, allowing launch crews to remain at a greater distance from enemy forces and air defenses.
The program is also working toward a range of about 650 kilometers (404 miles), while later variants are intended to reach at least 1,000 kilometers (621 miles).
The PrSM can also be fired from HIMARS, a truck-mounted rocket launcher, as well as the tracked M270A2 launcher. That compatibility means the US does not need an entirely new fleet of launch vehicles to deploy the missile.
It can also carry more firepower. A HIMARS launcher that can carry one ATACMS missile can carry two PrSMs before it needs to be reloaded.
Guided by an inertial navigation system aided by GPS, the missile is designed to detonate above the target, dispersing thousands of high‑velocity metal pellets over a wide area, according to weapons experts.
Beyond the Iranian battlefield, the missile’s debut also has wider significance for US military planning. Its greater range allows mobile launchers to threaten targets from greater distances, while its speed makes it particularly suited to time-sensitive targets such as missile launchers and air-defense systems.
Future versions are also being developed to strike moving targets, including ships.
In June, The Defense Post reported that the US Army awarded Lockheed Martin an $8.4 billion contract modification to boost PrSM production capacity.
The Iran-US war appears to have given the PrSM its battlefield debut.
US Central Command released footage on March 1 showing a PrSM being fired from a HIMARS during what it described as the first 24 hours of its operation against Iran, which began Feb. 28.
But its use has since drawn scrutiny over deadly strikes in Lamerd, a city in southern Iran.
BBC Verify reported in March that weapons experts who examined footage of a Feb. 28 strike said the projectile was likely a PrSM.
Airwars, a UK-based watchdog that investigates civilian harm in conflicts, separately analyzed three apparent PrSM strikes in Lamerd, including in residential areas and near civilian facilities, including the Shahid Naimi sports hall.
Its investigation found that one apparent strike caused damage across a radius of at least 170 meters (558 feet), while civilians were recorded killed at least 50 meters (164 feet) from the estimated explosion site.
Airwars said at least 21 civilians were killed in the attacks it investigated, including seven children and two women, and up to 170 others were injured.
The US military has disputed responsibility for the Lamerd strikes.
According to Airwars, US Central Command said CCTV footage was consistent with an Iranian Hoveyzeh cruise missile. Airwars, however, concluded that the weapons were PrSMs based on analysis of footage and the damage left behind.
Unlike missiles that detonate on impact, the PrSM is designed to explode above the ground, dispersing fragments across a wide area. Airwars said the Lamerd strikes left thousands of distinctive marks on buildings, roads and vehicles rather than large impact craters.
Iran's Kheibar Shekan, whose name translates roughly as “castle breaker,” serves a different purpose.
The Wall Street Journal described the Kheibar Shekan as "cheap, accurate and lethal” and the “workhorse” of Tehran’s arsenal.
Unveiled in 2022, it is a solid-fuel, medium-range ballistic missile developed by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), with Iran claiming a range of about 1,450 kilometers (901 miles).
That range puts US military facilities across large parts of the Middle East within potential reach.
Iranian media has reported the missile can carry a warhead weighing about 449-590 kilograms (990-1,301 pounds).
But one of its most important features is how quickly the missile can be prepared for launch.
The Kheibar Shekan uses solid fuel. Unlike liquid-fuel missiles that may require more launch preparation, solid-fuel missiles can generally be stored ready for use and fired more quickly.
That gives an opponent less time to detect preparations and potentially destroy the missile before it leaves the ground.
Iran and analysts describe its re‑entry vehicle as highly maneuverable in the terminal phase, a feature intended to complicate interception by missile defenses by making the warhead’s final trajectory harder to predict.
Tehran has also said the Kheibar Shekan is lighter and can be launched substantially faster than earlier systems, although the benchmarks for those comparisons have not been publicly established.
Iran has repeatedly said it has fired Kheibar Shekan missiles at US military positions since the conflict began on Feb. 28.
The IRGC has released footage showing the missile alongside other Iranian ballistic missiles, including the Fateh-110, Zolfaghar and Emad, which Tehran says have been used against US military targets.
During an escalation in late August, Iranian authorities said Kheibar Shekan missiles were used in attacks against US assets in Jordan.
Iran has also claimed attacks against US-linked targets in Bahrain, Kuwait and Erbil in northern Iraq, although such claims can be difficult to independently verify.
The missile is part of a much broader Iranian arsenal comprising short-, medium- and longer-range ballistic and cruise missiles.
Systems such as the Emad, Ghadr, Khorramshahr and Sejjil give Iran the ability to threaten targets across much of the region.
Although the PrSM and Kheibar Shekan belong to different missile classes and were developed by countries with very different military-industrial capabilities, both reflect a broader shift toward mobile and increasingly precise long-range strike systems.
Through programs like PrSM, the US is fielding land‑based missiles that can strike increasingly distant targets with precision from mobile launchers already dispersed with ground forces
Iran, meanwhile, has invested in missiles that can be moved, prepared rapidly and launched against bases and other targets across the region.
In both cases, mobility makes the missile launcher itself harder to find and destroy, while greater range allows forces to strike from farther away.
And that creates an increasingly difficult problem for defense.
Ballistic missiles travel at extremely high speeds, particularly as they descend toward their targets. Defenders must first detect a launch, determine the missile's trajectory, decide whether it threatens a target and then successfully intercept it -- all within minutes.
The result is an increasingly complex contest between long-range strike capabilities and the air and missile-defense systems designed to defeat them.
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