The US Navy’s deployment of new extremely long-range air-to-air missiles in the Indo-Pacific region could eliminate China’s edge in air access, experts say, part of a growing focus on power projection amid high tensions in the region.
The AIM-174B, developed from the readily available Raytheon SM-6 air defense missile, is the longest-range missile ever used by the United States and was officially accepted in July.
It has three major advantages: it can fly many times further than the next best US option, the AIM-120 AMRAAM; it does not require new production lines; and it is compatible with aircraft from at least one ally, Australia.
Importantly, weapons such as the AIM-174B, which can strike aerial targets up to 400 km (250 mi) away, are capable of striking ranges greater than China’s PL-15 missile, allowing US jets to deter threats from aircraft carriers while safely striking “high-value” Chinese targets such as command-and-control aircraft.
“The United States can ensure the security of its critical assets, such as carrier groups, and launch long-range strikes on PLA targets,” said Chih Chung, a researcher at the Taipei-based think tank Association of Strategic Foresight, using the acronym for the People’s Liberation Army.
The West has not been able to do this easily so far.
The AIM-120, the standard long-range missile for US aircraft, has a maximum range of about 150 km (93 mi), which requires the launch aircraft to fly greater depths into disputed territory, putting aircraft carriers at greater risk of anti-ship attacks.
Any conflict in the South China Sea, within the so-called First Island Chain that stretches from northeast Indonesia to the Japanese mainland, would mean the U.S. Navy would operate within a few hundred kilometers of its Chinese opponent.
Assisting in the invasion of Taiwan would bring the Navy even closer.
Cheh said the AIM-174B changes this equation, keeping PLA aircraft carriers out of firing range and even putting their aircraft at risk of striking Taiwan. He said this increases the likelihood that the US will be drawn into a major conflict in the region.
“The big thing is that this gives the United States a little more leverage in the South China Sea during a conflict,” said a senior U.S. defense technical analyst, who declined to be named because the matter is sensitive.
“And that will likely change China’s behavior, because it will see bigger, slower, unregulated aircraft as a greater threat.”
Range Advantage
For decades, the United States’ lead in stealth fighters, first with the F-117 and then with the F-22 and F-35, meant that missiles like the AIM-120 were all it needed.
Justin Bronk, an airpower and technology expert at the Royal United Services Institute in London, said the U.S. military also looked at developing AMRAAM as a cheaper alternative to the new missile, which has seen significant improvements in its performance over the decades.
The Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance says the SM-6 is estimated to cost about $4 million, while the AMRAAM costs about $1 million.
European nations, which did not have access to stealth technology until recent years, developed the 200 km (124 mi) range ramjet-powered Meteor missile manufactured by MBDA.
MBDA did not respond to a request for comment.
Kelly Grieco, a senior fellow at the Stimson Center, said the advent of Chinese stealth aircraft such as the J-20 and, more importantly, the PL-15 missile, which it can carry internally — with a range of 250 km (155 miles) or more — has eroded the US edge.
He said that now a stealth Chinese aircraft could theoretically spot non-stealth US planes and shoot them down beyond the range where they could retaliate.
Even US stealth aircraft may be forced to fly dangerously close to fire their missiles.
“If a Chinese fighter jet can outrun an American fighter jet, that means they can get the shot off first,” he said. “It’s hard to outrun something that’s going at Mach 4.”
The AIM-174B was developed to quickly meet that need.
The secretive Lockheed Martin AIM-260, a separate US Air Force program aimed at developing an extremely long-range air-to-air missile small enough to be carried internally by stealth aircraft, has been under development for at least seven years.
Lockheed Martin declined to comment on the project.
Bronk said China is developing missiles with longer ranges than the PL-15, but the launch aircraft’s radar may be unable to detect targets at such distances.
“If you make the missiles too big and too heavy, you run into fuel shortages for the aircraft,” he said.
Availability
Using Raytheon’s SM-6 missiles, originally designed for the ship-launched air defense role, means the production lines are already in place. Funding has already been earmarked for over 100 SM-6 missiles per year.
Raytheon declined to comment on how many AIM-174Bs would be produced or whether existing SM-6s would be converted.
So far it has only been featured on the US Navy’s F/A-18E/F Super Hornet aircraft, which are operated by the US and Australian forces.
The United States sees Australia as a vital ally and location to project its power in the South China Sea, and is investing billions of dollars in military infrastructure there.
Australia’s Defence Ministry said it was “working closely with the US to understand the capability options available for Australian consideration”.
The US Department of Defense referred questions regarding the AIM-174B to the US Navy.
The Navy said the missile has been “functionally deployed” but declined to comment on whether it would be supplied to allies, whether it would be integrated into other aircraft, and how many AIM-174Bs it needs each year.
The versatility of the SM-6, which has also been used to target ships, ground targets and missiles, opens the door to possibilities beyond the AIM-174B, said Peter Layton, a defense and aviation expert at the Griffith Asia Institute.
For example, if it is fitted with an anti-radar seeker, it can attack and destroy surface-to-air missile batteries from very long ranges.
However, the addition of the AIM-174B to the US Navy’s arsenal, even if not in large numbers right now, would change the calculus of regional conflict, the senior technical analyst said.
“If it’s enough to push back (China’s higher-priced) planes, you don’t need more planes,” the analyst said.
“Because the threat has caused the adversary to change its behavior … this has made the South China Sea scenario easier.”
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
