The U.S. Navy's deployment of new extremely long-range air-to-air missiles in the Indo-Pacific could erase China's advantage in aerial reach, experts say, as part of an intensifying focus on projecting power amid high tensions in the region.
The AIM-174B, developed from the readily available Raytheon SM-6 air defense missile, is the longest-range such missile the United States has ever fielded and was officially acknowledged in July. It has three key advantages: it can fly several times farther than the next-best U.S. option, the AIM-120 AMRAAM; it does not require new production lines; and it is compatible with the aircraft of at least one ally — Australia.
Crucially, a weapon such as the AIM-174B — which can attack aerial targets as far away as 400 kilometers — outranges China's PL-15 missile, allowing U.S. jets to keep threats farther from aircraft carriers and safely strike "high-value" Chinese targets such as command-and-control planes.