Source: China National Defense News·China Bugle
Recently, an F/A-18e "Super Hornet" of the 192nd "Golden Dragon" Fighter Attack Squadron of the US Navy was seen at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii, USA. Photos of a fighter-attack aircraft carrying two aim-174b long-range air-to-air missiles taking off while taxiing appeared online (picture below). In the photo, this aim-174b long-range air-to-air missile is painted in gray air superiority. The three blue stripes on the missile body and the words "naim-174b" on the warhead indicate that it is a training missile. This photo confirms from the side that the U.S. Navy may have begun receiving aim-174b long-range air-to-air missiles to equip "Super Hornet" fighter jets.
Since the f/a-18e/f "Super Hornet" fighter attack aircraft replaced the f-14 "Tomcat" carrier-based fighter and became the main carrier-based fighter of the US Navy, this aircraft is known as "air, sea, and ground" The "all-rounder" fighter has always had an obvious shortcoming - there is no matching long-range air-to-air missile. In addition, the aircraft's flight performance is average and it is unable to undertake air defense interception missions, providing long-range air defense for US Navy aircraft carriers. After the f-35c "Lightning" II stealth fighter was put on the ship, this status quo has not changed. On the contrary, due to the slower flying speed of the F-35C, the US Navy has to continue to hand over the air defense interception task to the slightly faster "Super Hornet" fighter and develop matching long-range air-to-air missiles.
Currently, the US military has three types of long-range missiles under development. Among them, the aim-174 missile led by the US Navy is an airborne model modified based on the "Standard"-6 long-range ship-to-air missile. Due to the high technical maturity of the "Standard"-6, this modification plan was relatively smooth. At present, it seems that this bomb has been initially equipped on U.S. Navy carrier-based aircraft. The detailed performance of
aim-174b long-range air-to-air missile has not yet been declassified. Considering that the "Standard"-6 extended-range missile has a range of 370 kilometers, even if the range is reduced after changing to an air-to-air missile, it can still reach the level of an ultra-long-range air-to-air missile. In the future, the aim-174b long-range air-to-air missile will have three combat modes: long-range air-to-air combat, ballistic missile interception and anti-ship combat. Among them, long-range air-to-air combat will be its "main business" to help the f/a-18e/f "super "Hornet" fighter attack aircraft achieves long-distance air strikes and builds the first line of defense for the US aircraft carrier formation.
(produced by China National Defense News·China Bugle)
