Latest news with #AIM-174B
Newsweek
07-05-2025
- Politics
- Newsweek
US Shows Off New Missile Made for China Air War
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. The United States showcased its airpower by displaying advanced air-to-air missiles in Japan, which are capable of defending a valuable aircraft carrier fleet from China's threats. A U.S. Pacific Fleet spokesperson told Newsweek that the AIM-174B missile, also known as the Standard Missile-6 (SM-6) Air-Launched Configuration (ALC), was operationally deployed. Newsweek has contacted the Chinese Defense Ministry for comment. Why It Matters The AIM-174B is the air-launched variant of the SM-6 missile, which was initially designed for deployment on surface warships. It is capable of executing missions for antiair and anti-surface warfare, as well as ballistic missile defense, with an estimated range of 290 miles. The introduction of this new air-to-air missile, which is equipped on U.S. Navy fighter jets, comes as China has been pursuing the development of anti-access/area denial capabilities, which seek to prevent American aircraft carriers from approaching the first island chain. The island chain is a naval blockade formed by Japan, Taiwan and the Philippines, which are allies and partners of Washington, under a U.S. maritime containment strategy. It seeks to restrict China's military access to the wider Pacific Ocean using U.S.-aligned territories. What To Know On Sunday, Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, an air base in the southwestern region of Japan's Honshu Island that's operated jointly by American and Japanese forces, hosted an opening event known as Friendship Day, highlighting the mutual support between the allies. A number of U.S. military aircraft were on display during the event, including a U.S. Navy F/A-18F fighter jet. An official released photo shows the aircraft carried two missiles under its left and right wings, which were identified by local visitors as the AIM-174B missiles. United States Navy aviators posing with an F/A-18F fighter jet during Friendship Day at Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni in Japan on May 4. United States Navy aviators posing with an F/A-18F fighter jet during Friendship Day at Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni in Japan on May 4. Lance Cpl. Rylan Adcock/U.S. Marine Corps The fighter aircraft, commonly known as the Super Hornet, is assigned to the Strike Fighter Squadron 102. The unit is attached to the Carrier Air Wing 5, an operational naval aviation organization that embarked aboard the Japan-based aircraft carrier USS George Washington. The aircraft carrier is homeported at Yokosuka naval base near Japan's capital city of Tokyo. It returned to its home port in November following maintenance work in Virginia. The specialist outlet the War Zone wrote that the AIM-174B missile would be able to intercept Chinese anti-ship ballistic missiles, which pose a great threat to American aircraft carriers, if it retains the SM-6's ballistic missile defense capability, extending the fleet's defense layer. The new American missile would also make China's critical surveillance aircraft vulnerable, which provide and update targeting data to ship-sinking missiles, the War Zone said, making Chinese long-range weapons unusable or usable in a "highly degraded state." What People Are Saying A spokesperson for the U.S. Pacific Fleet told Newsweek: "The SM-6 ALC integrated advanced technology into weapon systems will be executed incrementally to balance today's readiness with tomorrow's capabilities." The specialist outlet the War Zone reported: "China poses a major threat to carrier strike groups unlike any we have seen, ever. The height of the Soviet-era cruise missile threat was quite remarkable, but Beijing's ability to layer in many types of anti-ship weapons, including anti-ship ballistic missiles of various types, especially those with very-long range, is a uniquely vexing problem." The specialist outlet Naval News reported: "With the induction of AIM-174B into service, the U.S. Navy joins allies and adversaries in fielding an extra long range beyond-visual-range air-to-air missile (BVRAAM)." What Happens Next It remains to be seen when the AIM-174B missile will be deployed aboard the George Washington. The aircraft carrier remained at its home port as of Wednesday, according to a Kanagawa prefecture government website that tracks port visits by U.S. nuclear-powered warships.
Yahoo
11-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Navy Axes Its Hypersonic Anti-Ship Cruise Missile Plans
The U.S. Navy has halted plans to acquire an air-launched, air-breathing hypersonic anti-ship cruise missile, citing cost and industrial base factors. The service says it is now taking a second look at its requirements with a new focus on affordability. The Navy's work toward the acquisition of what it had dubbed the Hypersonic Air-Launched Offensive Anti-Surface Warfare (HALO) missile traces back to at least 2021. The service previously described it as a critical capability that needed to be fielded before 2030. Naval News was first to report that the plans for HALO, also known as the Offensive Anti-Surface Warfare Increment 2 (OASuW Inc 2), have now changed. 'The Navy cancelled the solicitation for the Hypersonic Air-Launched Offensive Anti-Surface Warfare (HALO) Engineering and Manufacturing Development (EMD) effort in fall 2024 due to budgetary constraints that prevent fielding new capability within the planned delivery schedule,' Navy Capt. Ron Flanders, a spokesperson for the service, told TWZ today. 'The decision was made after the Navy conducted a careful analysis, looking at cost trends and program performance across the munitions industrial base compared to the Navy's priorities and existing fiscal commitments.' 'We are working closely with our resource sponsors to revalidate the requirements, with an emphasis on affordability,' Flanders continued. 'The Navy is committed to its investment in Long Range Fires to meet National Defense objectives, with priority emphasis on fielding continued capability improvements to the AGM-158C Long Range Anti-Ship Missile (LRASM).' Lockheed Martin's LRASM, originally developed as OASuW Increment 1 and based on the AGM-158 Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM) design, is a highly capable stealthy anti-ship cruise missile, but it is also a subsonic design. A subvariant with significantly extended range and other upgrades is now in development, as you can read more about here. It's also worth noting here that the Navy has fielded an air-launched version of the multi-purpose Standard Missile-6 (SM-6), called the AIM-174B. When surface-launched, SM-6 can be employed against aerial threats, as well as targets at sea and on land. It is possible that AIM-174B could be used as a high-speed anti-ship missile, as well. The Navy had awarded initial HALO contracts to Raytheon and Lockheed Martin in 2023, though details about the designs that either company had been working on as part of this effort remain scant. However, they are both widely believed to be powered by advanced ramjet or scramjet engines. Both companies also notably took part in the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's (DARPA) Hypersonic Airbreathing Weapon Concept (HAWC) program, which was run in cooperation with the U.S. Air Force. Raytheon was part of a team that also included Northrop Grumman. HAWC subsequently fed into the Air Force's Hypersonic Attack Cruise Missile (HACM) program. Raytheon, working again with Northrop Grumman, has been under contract to develop HACM since 2022. The Navy's F/A-18E/F Super Hornets were expected to be the first aircraft armed with HALO. The service had also previously indicated that HALO could evolve into a ship and submarine-launched weapon after its initial introduction as an air-launched munition. 'OASuW Inc 2/HALO will be a carrier-suitable, higher-speed, longer-range, air-launched weapon system providing superior Anti-Surface Warfare capabilities. The program is part of the Navy's Long Range Fires investment approach to meet objectives of the National Defense Strategy,' Navy Capt. Richard Gensley, then Precision Strike Weapons (PMA-201) program manager within Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR), told TWZ just last June. 'As a key component of this strategy, OASuW Inc 2/HALO addresses advanced threats from engagement distances that allow the Navy to operate in, and control, contested battle space in littoral waters and Anti-Access/Area Denial (A2/AD) environments.' Previous Navy budget documents had also described HALO as being essential to help 'counter the evolving near-peer threat capability.' Russia and China have both been actively developing and fielding a growing number of hypersonic and otherwise high-speed anti-ship missiles that can be launched from air, sea, and ground-based platforms. This includes air-breathing hypersonic cruise missiles, most prominently Russia's Zircon, and anti-ship ballistic missiles. Hypersonic speed is typically defined as anything above Mach 5. What has now happened to the HALO effort is the latest high-profile stumble for hypersonic weapons developments across the U.S. military while potential adversaries continue to make progress in this realm. The status of the Air Force's AGM-183A Air-Launched Rapid Response Weapon (ARRW) remains murky following the ostensible end of work on that program last year. The Army's Dark Eagle hypersonic missile program has also been beset by delays, with the service only conducting its first successful launch of that weapon from a trailer-based launcher in December 2024 after years of setbacks. Dark Eagle is the Army end of a joint program with the U.S. Navy, which is set to eventually see the same missiles integrated into Zumwalt class stealth destroyers and Block V Virginia class submarines. The Navy refers to its portion of that program as the Intermediate Range Conventional Prompt Strike (IRCPS) weapon system. ARRW, Dark Eagle, and IRCPS are also unpowered boost-glide vehicle hypersonic weapons, which are in an entirely different category from air-breathing hypersonic cruise missiles, as you can read more about here. Questions have also been raised about potential risks with the Air Force's HACM program. In 2023, the Air Force said it was canceling ARRW to refocus resources on HACM, though significant testing of the AGM-183A continued afterward. HACM is also directly intertwined with U.S.-Australian cooperation on hypersonic weapons through the Southern Cross Integrated Flight Research Experiment (SCIFiRE) program. In addition, the Navy's citing of cost and industry factors as contributing to the cancellation of the HALO solicitation last year underscores broader issues facing the U.S. military. Concerns are steadily growing about the ability of America's armed forces to bolster stockpiles of key precision munitions, as well as sustain those inventories during any future protracted high-end fight, such as one in the Pacific against China. Ongoing campaigns against threats emanating from Iranian-backed Houthi militants in Yemen, as well as in the broader defense of Israel, are already seeing munition expenditure rates that are causing growing alarm, including from the U.S. military itself. There is now steadily growing interest in lower-cost precision munitions across the board, but these are intended to supplement, not supplant more exquisite capabilities like what the Navy had hoped to acquire with HALO. How the Navy's air-launched hypersonic anti-ship cruise missile ambitions now evolve, and what more affordable pathways to a relevant capability there might be, remain to be seen. Contact the author: joe@
Yahoo
10-03-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Secretive AIM-260 Air-To-Air Missile Live-Fire Testing Surged Last Year With Navy Help
Members of the U.S. Navy's Air Test and Evaluation Squadron 31 (VX-31) contributed to an important increase in live-fire testing of the secretive AIM-260A long-range air-to-air missile last year, it has emerged. In 2024, the 'Dust Devils' of VX-31 also made important contributions to the initial fielding of the AIM-174B air-launched version of the Standard Missile 6 (SM-6), which was in response to an 'emergent Pacific Fleet requirement.' The new details about VX-31's support to the AIM-260A and AIM-174B programs come via the announcement of awards that members of the squadron received last month, which user @AirPowerNEW1 on X was first to spot. The Dust Devils are based at Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake in California. The squadron supports various test and evaluation activities with a mixed fleet of aircraft that currently includes F/A-18F Super Hornets, EA-18G Growlers, and AV-8B+ Harriers, as well as MH-60S Seahawk helicopters. 'CDR Christopher Putre, Commanding Officer of Air Test and Evaluation Squadron THREE ONE (VX-31) presents LCDR Orion Flurett with a Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal on December 19, 2024, in China Lake, CA. LCDR Flurett, recognized for his meritorious service while serving as Developmental Test-9 Detachment Officer In Charge, VX-31, FROMN [sic; from] July to August 2024,' one post on VX-31's official Facebook account reads. 'LCDR Flurett demonstrated extraordinary leadership and foresight, he planned, managed, and coordinated 78 personnel and two aircraft supporting the live-fire testing of the AIM-260 Joint Advanced Tactical Missile. In particular, his keen oversight and initiative were critical to receiving approval from NAVAIR [Naval Air Systems Command], VX-31, CTWP, and Eglin AFM [sic; Eglin Air Force Base] leadership for the last-minute increase to category C testing, resulting in the successful completion of 8 sorties encompassing 26.3 mishap-free flight hours, directly contributing to future air wing capabilities.' The post does not specify what types of aircraft supported this increased testing, or whether or not they came from VX-31 or another unit involved in AIM-260A testing. JATM is a joint program that the Navy is working on together with the U.S. Air Force. Active testing of the new missile, including live-fire shots, has already been ongoing for years now. F/A-18E/F Super Hornets are expected to be among the first types to carry AIM-260s operationally along with Air Force F-22 Raptor stealth fighters. It's unclear when the AIM-260 might be slated to enter operational service now. When the existence of the JATM first became public in 2019, the goal was to start fielding the missiles in 2022, but there are no indications that this has occurred. Details about the AIM-260 itself remain limited and no imagery of the missile has emerged to date. The Air Force did confirm to TWZ last month that a recently released JATM rendering reflects the real design. Key requirements for the AIM-260 are known to include substantially greater range than the existing AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile (AMRAAM), but in a package with the same form factor. The JATM is likely to have new advanced guidance and networking capabilities, as you can read more about here. On the AIM-174B front, 'CDR Christopher Putre, Commanding Officer of Air Test and Evaluation Squadron THREE ONE (VX-31) presents CDR James Kobyra and LT Mollie Sebald with a Letter of Appreciation on December 19, 2024, in China Lake, CA for their instrumental contribution to the successful certification and testing of Captive Air Training Missiles [CATM]' in support of that program, a separate VX-31 Facebook post says. 'Through August and September of 2024, they provided exceptional leadership for the rapid execution on the CATM project, facilitating and demonstrating the feasibility and relevance of the missiles for fleet flight operations. Their efforts enabled the program to meet and [sic; an] emergent Pacific Fleet requirement and provided the fleet with a key capability while meeting a time critical need. Also, they provided a program and the fleet with a cost effective, and tactically relevant capability at delivery time the exemplifies speed to the fleet.' VX-31, as well as VX-9, the 'Vampires,' also based at China Lake, have been actively supporting the development of the AIM-174B for years now. The recent award announcement does provide some additional context around the missile's public unveiling as part of the biennial Rim of the Pacific exercise off Hawaii last year, which ran from June 27 to August 1. The Navy previously confirmed that the AIM-174B has already entered at least limited operational service. The AIM-174B is derived from the combat-proven SM-6, which is a highly-capable multi-purpose missile in U.S. service in multiple ship and ground-launched configurations. SM-6 can engage aerial threats, including ballistic missiles in the terminal phase of flight and highly maneuverable hypersonic weapons under specific circumstances, as well as targets at sea and on land when used in a quasi-ballistic mode. The fact that the Navy's development of an air-launched version of SM-6 was driven at least in part by a requirement from U.S. Pacific Fleet is fully in line with TWZ's previous analysis. You can learn more about how the AIM-174B will factor into the Navy's future air combat ecosystem, especially for fleet defense and attacking high-value assets, and in the context of a high-end fight with China in the Pacific, in our past in-depth feature and the video below. The Navy has otherwise been extremely tight-lipped about the AIM-174B. 'It exists,' Navy Rear Adm. Keith Hash, head of NAVAIR's Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division (NAWCWD), said during a panel discussion at the WEST 2025 conference in January when asked about the new air-launched version of the SM-6. 'That's an operational capability. And, as you can see, that one being revealed and shown into the area, there are many more behind [it], things that we're doing there, making sure that we are staying ahead of the conflict, making sure that we're prepared for the fight that's going on. And those activities and that development is active and strong.' The VX-31 award announcements underscore just how significant the addition of the AIM-174B to the Navy's arsenal really is, especially when it comes to being prepared for a future major conflict with China in the Pacific, as well as the importance of ongoing work on the AIM-260. Contact the author: joe@
Telegraph
28-02-2025
- Science
- Telegraph
US Navy's new Top Gun missile makes aircraft carriers all but invulnerable to Chinese attack
In a surprise move last summer, the US Navy revealed a new and extremely powerful air-to-air missile – an air-launched version of the Raytheon SM-6, normally fired from a vertical launch silo aboard a warship but also compatible with ground-based launchers. The radar-guided SM-6, redesignated the AIM-174B for air-to-air use, is a massive missile weighing nearly a ton and ranging at least 220 miles – if not farther. And it 'will massively change the current attack-defence model of war at sea,' according to Weapons Magazine, a government-owned trade publication in China. US Naval War College analyst Ian Easton helpfully translated and summarised the Chinese article. Ranging more than twice as far as America's next-best air-to-air missiles, the Raytheon AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile, the AIM-174B – which doesn't yet have an official nickname – hugely expands the volume of air space that the US Navy's carrier air wings and their F-18 Hornet fighters can control. That, in turn, has the effect of pushing back the Chinese air force's Xi'an H-6 bombers, and reducing the effectiveness of the bombers' anti-ship missiles, which Beijing is largely counting on to damage or sink American carriers in the event of a major war in the western Pacific region. On such a mission, H-6 bombers each carry between four and six YJ-18 anti-ship missiles ranging as far as 340 miles. Weapons Magazine crunched the numbers. 'Originally, F/A-18E fighters could stay on patrol for 125 minutes up to 270 kilometres [167 miles] from their carriers, carrying three external fuel tanks and six AIM-120 AMRAAM missiles,' the magazine noted. 'If they were refuelled once, this range could be extended out to 370 kilometres [186 miles]. A fighter radius of 370 kilometres plus the AIM-120 missile's range of 160 kilometres [99 miles] equals 530 kilometres [285 miles]. If that fighter is instead armed with the air-launched variant of the SM-6, its effective radius goes up to 870 kilometres [541 miles] or more.' 'This,' the Chinese publication asserted, 'is a shocking distance. Basically, it allows them to shoot down the other side's [bombers] before they can launch their anti-ship missiles.' That's precisely what the US Navy hopes to do. Recall that the AIM-174B is a much-delayed direct replacement for the AIM-54 Phoenix, a 100-mile-range anti-bomber missile that the US fleet's F-14 Tomcat fighters carried during the later decades of the Cold War. The original Top Gun movie dated from that era and saw Maverick and Goose flying the iconic swing-wing, Mach 2+ Tomcat, which also made an appearance in the recent sequel. The Tomcat/Phoenix combo would've targeted Soviet bombers hunting American carriers. Today's Hornets with their AIM-174Bs will target Chinese bombers hunting the same American carriers. The appearance of the air-launched SM-6 marks a return to the old era of truly full-fat Beyond Visual Range (BVR) air-to-air combat. The AMRAAM is technically a BVR weapon, but the new, massive AIM-174B is the real thing. Other than that and the newer missile's superior range, the US Navy's emerging 'outer air battle' doctrine is essentially a copy-and-paste of its Cold War doctrine. The Chinese author breathlessly predicted the US Air Force might also adopt the AIM-174B. In fact, there's no sign of that happening, as the Air Force seems determined to develop its own longer-range missiles. Moreover, the Pentagon is struggling to acquire more than 125 SM-6/AIM-174B missiles a year, mostly owing to industrial constraints and the missiles' high cost: around $5 million per unit. Unless and until the Americans can reliably produce many more AIM-174Bs, the new missile may represent a niche capability – one that air wing commanders can afford to use only sparingly. The Pentagon is well aware of its constraints, however – and has crafted a plan to expand SM-6/AIM-174B production to 300 missiles a year by 2028. At that rate, the Chinese author's worst fears may become reality. Their magazines stuffed with AIM-174Bs, US Navy flattops could sail more confidently into the most dangerous waters bordering China. SM-6s launched from their escorting destroyers would also offer a defence against anti-ship ballistic missiles fired from ashore – perhaps even hypersonic ones. Even if the Chinese could develop a firm idea where the carriers were, a difficult feat, they would struggle to hit them through such defences. If there's a risk in the American's plan, it's President Donald Trump's chaotic management of the federal budget. Trump has demanded the Navy and the other military services each divert eight percent of their annual budgets to Trump's personal priorities including domestic border patrols. Budgetary reprogramming on that scale could gut many Navy programmes, including this one.
