What you need to know: The US Navy recently showcased an F/A-18 Super Hornet loaded with advanced air-to-air munitions at Exercise Gray Flag 2024, highlighting an improved strategy to counter Chinese long-range aircraft.

– Armed with new AIM-174B missiles, derived from the Navy’s SM-6 missile, the aircraft can engage targets over 200 miles away, far exceeding the traditional AIM-120 and AIM-9 ranges.

-This approach reflects the Navy’s focus on upgrading fourth-generation aircraft with state-of-the-art munitions, as demonstrated by the addition of the AGM-158C LRASM anti-ship missile.

-This enhances the combat role of the F/A-18 in fifth-generation airspace, increasing its effectiveness in a near-equal Indo-Pacific conflict.

Navy’s F/A-18 Super Hornet now equipped to engage Chinese aircraft at 200 miles

A recent photoshoot has revealed how the US Navy plans to shoot down Chinese jets before they get in range to be dangerous.

Publicly released images showed a “world” F/A-18 Super Hornet carrying some of the most advanced air-to-air munitions.

A sexy F/A-18 Super Hornet

At the conclusion of Exercise Gray Flag 2024 in September, an F/A-18 Super Hornet from the Air Test and Evaluation Squadron (VX), 9 “Vampires” flew alongside an F-35C Lightning II and an F-15E Strike Eagle that have quite an interesting payload.

The aircraft was armed to the teeth with four CATM-174B, three CATM-120 and two CATM-9X missiles, as well as a targeting pod and IRST (Infrared Search and Track) mounted on an external fuel tank.

That Aviationist reported that this was the second time the F/A-18 Super Hornet had carried this payload as part of Gray Flag.

The 120 AIM-120 Advanced Medium Range Air-Air (AMRAAM) radio-homing missile and the AIM-9 Sidewinder heat-seeking missile are the basic elements of an air-to-air combat equipment. However, the presence of the AIM-174B shows the increased use of a new air-to-air combat munition.

Based on the Standard Missile 6 (SM-6), the AIM-174B offers a much longer range than older munitions such as AIM-120 and AIM-9.

For example, the AIM-120 has a range of “over 30 miles”, while AIM-9 has a maximum range of less than 20 miles.

In comparison, the AIM-174B can hit targets more than 200 miles away. This is an incredible improvement over existing munitions and means that US fighter jets could shoot them down Chinese planes even before they come into range to be dangerous.

SM-6 it is used by the Navy’s cruisers, destroyers, and guided-missile frigates; it has a range of 230 miles; and reaches speeds of Mach 3.5 (nearly 2,700 miles per hour).

As part of the exercise, the Navy partnered with the Air Force and Army to conduct more than 600 sorties and test dozens of air and ground systems.

“Grey Flag 2024 was an unparalleled opportunity to bring together various branches of the military, academic institutions, science and technology experts, and allied forces,” said Capt. David Halpern, Commodore Naval Test Wing Pacific.

Pairing old aircraft with new munitions

The US Navy has been experimenting more and more with its capabilities F/A-18 fleet in an attempt to make the fourth-generation fighter more effective in a fifth-generation airspace.

For example, over the summer, the Navy fielded an F/A-18 Super Hornet AGM-158C LRASMa new long-range stealth anti-ship missile designed to sink Chinese surface combatants in the event of a conflict in the Indo-Pacific.

Pairing older platforms with state-of-the-art munitions is a great way to avoid the disadvantages that older aircraft might have in a fifth-generation airspace. Of course, equipping an F/A-18 Super Hornet with a stealth munition does not make the fighter a fifth-generation aircraft capable of fighting Chinese stealth fighters.

But it increases their capabilities and chances of survival in a close conflict.

About the author

Stavros Atlamazoglou is an experienced defense journalist specializing in special operations and a veteran of the Hellenic Army (national service with the 575th Marine Battalion and Army Headquarters). He holds a BA from Johns Hopkins University and an MA from Johns Hopkins’ School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). His work was presented in Business Insider, Sandboxxand SOFREP.

Image credit: Creative Commons.