The United States Army fired its Precision Strike Missile (PrSM) to hit Iranian targets during Operation Epic Fury, marking the long-range weapon’s first operational deployment since its fielding in 2023. U.S. Central Command (USCENTCOM), which directs military operations in the Middle East, confirmed the weapon’s use in a March 2026 social media post, which included images that show an M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System launching the PrSM. USCENTCOM called the use of the tactical ballistic missile a “historic first.”
“The operational debut of the new missiles showcases the significantly greater range they offer compared to their predecessors, the Army Tactical Missile System, and much expanded target areas that [U.S.] units can now hold at risk as a result,” wrote military news website The War Zone.
The PrSM can strike targets from at least 500 kilometers away using a GPS navigation system, according to Lockheed Martin. The manufacturer said “planned increments” could push the PrSM’s range beyond 1,000 kilometers.
The U.S. initially designed the weapon to counter the Chinese Communist Party’s anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) defenses in the Indo-Pacific, according to a February 2025 report by online publication The National Interest. Previously, the now-dissolved Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty imposed limitations that prevented fielding ground-launched missiles with the PrSM’s range.
Patrycja Bazylczyk, associate director and associate fellow with the Missile Defense Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, called the missile’s operational debut the “beginning of a new chapter of Army strike capability, with significantly greater reach and accuracy,” according to news website Business Insider.
The U.S. also deployed another weapon for the first time in Epic Fury. USCENTCOM’s Scorpion Strike task force used a one-way attack drone called the low-cost unmanned combat attack system (LUCAS), according to Business Insider. SpektreWorks, a small Arizona start-up, based the LUCAS on the Iranian-made Shahed, which Tehran has used extensively in the Middle East. Russia has also fielded the Shahed in Ukraine. Each costs roughly $35,000, according to Business Insider.
“These drones were originally an Iranian design. We took them back to America, made them better, and fired them right back at Iran,” U.S. Navy Adm. Brad Cooper, Commander of USCENTCOM, said in a video posted to social media.
The LUCAS is about 3 meters long with a wingspan of more than 2 meters and resembles a miniature fighter plane, according to The New York Times newspaper. The explosive payload in its nose detonates on impact. After operators enter the target’s coordinates, the drones can travel hundreds of kilometers autonomously, the Times said in its March 2026 report.
The use of inexpensive drones in Ukraine and the Middle East has led the U.S. and its Allies in Europe to develop cost-efficient options for air defense instead of using multimillion-dollar missiles and warplanes. Bazylczyk said the cost imbalance in drone defense is shifting.
“The employment of LUCAS drones against Iran demonstrates that the U.S. is willing to give Iran a taste of their own medicine,” she told Business Insider.