The AIM-174B Is the Missile China Fears: First announced in the summer of 2024, the United States Navy is now fielding a new air-to-air missile (AAM) that is one of the longest-range of its kind in service. Interestingly, the missile is not a new weapon but an adaptation of an air and missile defense interceptor initially used onboard US Navy warships.
The Standard-6 (SM-6) missile was originally designed for several shipboard missions, including intercepting ballistic missiles, but has now been adapted as an AAM. This variant has a range of 220-250 miles and has been re-designated AIM-174B.
What has brought added attention to this program is a recent publication in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) that has singled out the missile for attention. An article on this details how worried the People’s Liberation Army Navy and Air Force (PLAN/PLAAF) are about this new AAM. They believe the weapon can essentially upset the proverbial applecart, which is the PLA’s battle plan for taking on the US Navy.
Weapons Magazine (兵器) publication described the AIM-174B as a “huge threat.” It continues to lament the fact that the American missile can shoot down high-value assets at “a shocking distance” and that, in the process, this will cause the PLA’s operational war plan to “verge on collapse.”
What Shocks The PLA War Planners
The US Navy has not had an AAM with an ultra-long reach since the famous AIM-54C Phoenix missile that was the standard fit on the Grumman F-14 Tomcat.
However, the missile was retired in 2004 with the withdrawal of the famous carrier-fighter aircraft.
Captain Scott “Stewie” Stewart, the Navy’s then Program Manager for Air-to-Air Missile Systems at the time, lamented the loss of the weapon from US Navy service. “With a range of over 100 miles, the AIM-54 gave the F-14 the greatest stand-off engagement capability of any fighter in the world. For years, Soviet aircrews flying Badger, Bear and Backfire bombers feared the unprecedented capabilities of the Phoenix Missile.”
Once the AIM-54C was gone, the sole advanced AAM option for the Navy was the AIM-120 AMRAAM, which lacked both the predecessor missile’s extended range and larger warhead. The lead carrier-based interceptor was now the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, which lacked the range of the F-14.
Beijing’s war planners may have been less than intimidated by this combination, but not so when the Super Hornet carried the new AIM-174B. Very capably translated by Ian Easton of the China Maritime Studies Institute (CMSI), the details of the PLA’s anxiety about this new missile are on full display.
What the Long Reach Means
The Chinese article is entitled “The World’s First All-Purpose Missile: The SM-6 Brings a Total Transformation to the US Navy’s Operational System,” and the PLA analysts present in detail the history of the SM-6 missile, specifically noting how specialized variants of the weapon are capable of air defense, ballistic missile defense, anti-ship, and land-attack missions.
The Chinese authors conclude the US Navy “have once again acquired super long-ranged air-to-air firepower after previously decommissioning the F-14 Tomcat fighter plus the AIM-54 Phoenix air-to-air missile combo.
Even more importantly, the AIM-174 air-launched Standard-6 missile could now very well be the longest-range air-to-air missile in the world.”
The PLA authors zero in on how this missile can enhance the combat effectiveness of the Super Hornet. They specifically point out:
“Originally, F/A-18E fighters could stay on patrol for 125 minutes up to 270 kilometers from their carriers, carrying 3 external fuel tanks and 6 AIM-120 ‘AMRAAM’ missiles.
“If they were refueled once, this range could be extended out to 370 kilometers. A fighter radius of 370 kilometers plus the AIM-120 missile’s range of 160 kilometers equals 530 kilometers. If that fighter is instead armed with the air-launched variant of the SM-6, its effective radius goes up to 870 kilometers or more. This is a shocking distance. Basically, it allows them to shoot down the other side’s [bombers] before they can launch their anti-ship missiles.
“Even more importantly, by using … this super long-range air-to-air missile, they can pose a huge threat to the other side’s high-value targets flying in rear areas, such as early-warning planes, aerial refueling tankers, and bombers. Because the ability of these targets to maneuver is limited, once an SM-6 is locked on them, it will be very difficult to escape. If these critical targets are destroyed, the other side’s operational system will verge on collapse.”
For the longest time, the assessment of US Navy vulnerabilities vis-à-vis the PLAN AF and PLAAF focused on the fact that there was no defense against carrier-killer missiles launched from Chinese aircraft.
Now, it seems that the tables are turned. The US Navy can shoot down those at long ranges now. What will now be the response from the Chinese side?
About the Author:
Reuben F. Johnson is a survivor of the February 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine and is now an Expert on Foreign Military Affairs with the Fundacja im. Kazimierza Pułaskiego in Warsaw. He has been a consultant to the Pentagon, several NATO governments and the Australian government in the fields of defense technology and weapon systems design. Over the past 30 years he has resided in and reported from Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Brazil, the People’s Republic of China and Australia.
antiDave
March 7, 2025 at 9:43 am
As long as the USA has the upper hand, peace can be maintained. When China feels it does, Taiwan is first.