S-350 Vityaz vs. PrSM: Moscow Has Old Tools to Stop America’s New Strike Weapon

Russian surface-to-air missile systems, including the S-350 Vityaz, can intercept the US Army's new Precision Strike Missile (PrSM), military air defense historian Yuri Knutov said in comments to News.ru.

Photo: commons.wikimedia.org by Vitaly V. Kuzmin, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

50P6E launcher of the S-350E Vityaz air defense missile system

Russian Systems Capable of Countering PrSM

Knutov noted that the United States developed the PrSM as a replacement for the Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS). The new missile has comparable dimensions and can be launched from the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS).

"Russian forces have experience intercepting ATACMS missiles. They use Buk-M, Buk-M3, as well as the S-350 Vityaz and Pantsir systems. Russia has sufficient means to defeat such targets, although these missiles do pose a certain danger,” the expert said.

According to Knutov, existing Russian air defense platforms already operate against similar ballistic threats, which reduces the strategic impact of the new US missile.

PrSM Capabilities and Development

The US Army received its first PrSM missiles at the end of 2023. The manufacturer currently supplies the Increment One version, which has a range of 500 kilometers. This modification does not feature a multi-mode seeker capable of targeting moving objects.

The upgraded Increment Two variant includes a new guidance component that allows it to strike moving targets. The United States first tested this version in 2024.

Earlier in March, reports indicated that the US military used the PrSM for the first time during strikes on targets in Iran.