By Jim Morris, Warrior Vice President, News
It’s the longest-range air-to-air missile ever loaded onto a US warplane. And it’s one more sign of how the Pentagon is beefing up its forces in the Indo-Pacific region.
Last month, the US Navy confirmed that the missile known as the AIM-174B has been “operationally deployed.” The weapon was spotted on F/A-18 E/F Super Hornets taking part in the RIMPAC 2024 maneuvers – the first time anyone had spotted the missile in public.
The AIM-174B is what the Navy calls the “air launched configuration” of the SM-6, the surface-to-air missile designed to be used on ships as part of the Aegis Combat System. The missile is built by Raytheon, and it could give the US the upper hand in some combat situations in Asia.
According to some reports, it can attack targets up to 250 miles away, giving it more than two and a half times the range of the AIM-120 AMRAAM, which is the standard air-to-air weapon on the F-22 and F-35 stealth fighters.
China’s aerial mainstay is the PL-15 missile, which has a shorter range than the AIM-174B (although a newer missile, the PL-17, also may be effective up to 250 miles). One military expert told Reuters the new US missile could be a game-changer.
“The United States can ensure the safety of their most important assets, such as carrier groups, and launch long-range strikes on (People’s Liberation Army) targets,” said Chieh Chung of the Taiwanese think-tank Association of Strategic Foresight.
There’s speculation that the US wouldn’t use the AIM-174B against enemy fighters, which would have the speed and agility to evade missiles fired from long-range. Instead, Forbes magazine says, the US would target so-called enabler aircraft, slower early-warning planes that could provide critical data to attacking formations.
The thinking goes that once these aircraft have been taken out, attackers would lose their advantage against US targets.
The AIM-174B’s “parent”, the SM-6, was approved for full-rate production in 2013 after eight years in development. It was designed for extended-range anti-air warfare, giving the Navy the ability to take out fighter jets, drones, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles in their terminal phase. Later, the Navy modified the missile so it could be used against surface targets.
Earlier this year, the US Army activated its latest Typhon battery, a system which uses the SM-6 and Tomahawk missiles. The Typhon made its first appearance in the Indo-Pacific in April, when it was deployed to the northern Philippines as part of US-Philippine exercises.
According to an Army press release, its location on the island of Luzon would allow missiles to hit targets on the Chinese coast and in the South China Sea. That deployment didn’t go over well with Beijing, which said the US was strengthening “forward deployment at China’s doorstep.”
Meanwhile, the SM-6 made its combat debut in January, when one of the weapons was used to shoot down a anti-ship ballistic missile fired by Iranian-backed Houthi militants in the Gulf of Aden. It was launched from the USS Carney, an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer.
