The United States Navy has recently put a new air-to-air missile into service as part of an effort to enhance its ability to protect valuable aircraft carriers from China's evolving long-range threats within the Western Pacific region.
As the U.S. military assembled forces with allies and partners for maritime exercise Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) in Hawaii, a U.S. Navy F/A-18E fighter jet was spotted carrying two unusual and huge missiles at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam on July 2, The Aviationist reported.
F/A-18E and its two-seat variant F/A-18F, dubbed Super Hornet, are the primary multirole fighter jets of the Navy's aircraft carriers. Besides striking targets on land and at sea, their main task would be acting as the first line of defense to protect the mother ships.
In a wide maritime operational environment like the Pacific Ocean, Chinese long-range threats such as cruise missiles, bombers, and drones can be used to form a "keep-out zone," to deter or deny the U.S. Navy carrier strike groups approaching China's waters.
Brian Hart, a fellow with the China Power Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told Newsweek via email that China has been pursuing the development of anti-access/area denial capabilities for decades.
The Chinese military is continuing to develop more advanced, longer-range systems that are harder to defend against, such as hypersonic glide vehicles, he added.
Newsweek has contacted the Chinese defense ministry for comment by email.
The missiles bore designation AIM-174B. AIM stands for "Air Intercept Missile" and combined with number 174, indicating they are the air-launched variant of the combat-proven RIM-174 Standard Extended Range Active Missile, or Standard Missile 6 (SM-6).
The SM-6 is a major part of the Navy's surface fleet air defense network, working with the Aegis Combat System aboard cruisers and destroyers. It is also "three missiles in one," capable of performing anti-air, anti-surface, and ballistic missile defense missions, according to Raytheon, the missile's manufacturer.
This shipborne missile provides warfighting capabilities in an extended range as it has a maximum reach of 290 miles, The New York Times reported in May.
In January, U.S. Navy destroyer USS Carney shot down an anti-ship ballistic missile, launched by Yemen's Houthi rebels, with the SM-6 while underway in the Gulf of Aden, according to Fox News.
The AIM-174B thus becomes an air-to-air missile capable of shooting down aerial threats at a long-range. The AIM-9X and AIM-120D are the current air-to-air missiles in the Navy's arsenal, with an estimated range of over 10 miles and nearly 100 miles, respectively.
"The SM-6 Air Launched Configuration (ALC) was developed as part of the SM-6 family of missiles and is operationally deployed in the Navy today," a Navy spokesperson said in response to Newsweek's email.
Raytheon declined to provide further information about the new missile, with a representative from the company telling Newsweek that nothing can be added at this time.
It was not immediately clear what the primary target of the AIM-174B is and whether it is also capable of striking surface targets like its original ship-launched version.
With the new SM-6 in operational status, American fighter jets can engage aerial threats further away from aircraft carriers. The missile would also target enemy supporting forces like early warning and refueling aircraft, which typically do not fly close to the front line.
The role of carrier-based fighter jets in intercepting hostile aerial threats has been tested in the Red Sea crisis where the Dwight D. Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group's aircraft expended nearly 60 air-to-air missiles from November to June in engaging Houthi drones.
For the Navy, this weapon realized a major capability leap and would be "extremely relevant" to a potential conflict with China, defense news website The War Zone wrote earlier this month.
RIMPAC, meanwhile, is U.S. military-led and the world's largest international maritime exercise. Twenty-nine countries deploy 40 surface ships, three submarines, 14 national land forces, more than 150 aircraft and 25,000 personnel for the biennial drills this year, running from June 27 to August 1.
Disclaimer: The copyright of this article belongs to the original author. Reposting this article is solely for the purpose of information dissemination and does not constitute any investment advice. If there is any infringement, please contact us immediately. We will make corrections or deletions as necessary. Thank you.
