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recently, foreign media released a close-up photo of an f/a-18f from the u.s. navy fighter test squadron. the photo shows the dense missile mounts under the wings of the aircraft, including 4 ultra-long-range aim-174b air-to-air missiles, 3 aim-120 medium-range air-to-air missiles, 2 aim-9x short-range air-to-air missiles, and the irst system and infrared targeting pod under the belly. the report believes that this is an effort made by the u.s. military to deal with the pl-15 long-range air-to-air missiles and pl-17 ultra-long-range air-to-air missiles equipped by china, which will enable the u.s. military to regain the ability to strike high-value equipment such as chinese early warning aircraft and refueling aircraft. in addition, the u.s. military is also improving the aim-120 air-to-air missile and secretly developing a new aim-260 air-to-air missile as a secret weapon to surpass chinese missiles!

in fact, the u.s. military has been suppressing china in terms of air-to-air missile range for many years. however, since we developed the pl-15 and combined this long-range air-to-air missile with a maximum range of more than 200 kilometers with the stealth penetration capability of the j-20, the u.s. military's "force multipliers" early warning aircraft and refueling aircraft that were originally deployed relatively forward have suddenly become unsafe. in order to ensure the safety of these high-value equipment, the u.s. military can only withdraw its deployment, but this will lose the detection distance and accuracy of the early warning aircraft for the pla's movements, causing the side to lose control of the battlefield situation. at the same time, china is also vigorously developing its own early warning aircraft and refueling aircraft capabilities, and its performance has also surpassed that of the u.s. military. in this process of growth and decline, the pla's battlefield situation awareness capability has surpassed that of the u.s. military.

the last ultra-long-range air-to-air missile of the us military, the "phoenix"

but on a modern battlefield, and over the vast western pacific, when one side's situational awareness is suppressed, it may face total failure. therefore, in order to "offset" the threat posed by china's pl-15 and j-20, the u.s. military is preparing to come up with several air-to-air missiles that can match or greatly exceed the pl-15 in range before developing a new generation of awacs with better performance, in order to deter high-value equipment such as chinese awacs, so that they cannot get too close to the front line to monitor u.s. military movements. however, since the u.s. military retired the "phoenix" ultra-long-range air-to-air missile, it has never been equipped with any ultra-long-range air-to-air missile for more than 20 years, and has instead handed over all long-range air combat missions to the aim-120 series of medium- and long-range air-to-air missiles.

but even the latest aim-120d-3 version has a maximum range of only 160-180 kilometers, which is still not as good as the pl-15. so the u.s. military began to develop a new long-range air-to-air missile, the aim-260. but the estimated maximum range of the aim-260 is only about 200 kilometers, the same as the pl-15 (some say it can reach 300 kilometers), which cannot effectively deter the pla, and can only conduct equal combat at best. so the u.s. military began to think about the "multi-purpose missile" sm-6.

as the latest member of the us military's "standard" missile family, sm-6 has been separated from its dedicated ship-borne air defense mission due to its more advanced modular body design. it has been developed into a variety of derivative models such as anti-ship missiles, surface-to-air missiles, short-range ballistic missiles, anti-ballistic missiles and air-to-air missiles, and aim-174b is the latest air-to-air missile version. although the us military is still keeping its maximum range confidential, the outside world speculates from the range of its land-based or sea-based versions that when the missile is launched from the air with less fuel consumption, higher altitude and greater initial velocity, its range should be able to reach about 400-500 kilometers. this range will be more than double that of pl-15, but it can meet the us military's needs to strike high-value targets such as chinese early warning aircraft and refueling aircraft.

therefore, this ultra-long-range air-to-air missile project, which is highly anticipated by both the us air force and the navy, has become the new "trump card" of the us military in the future when it fights china in the south china sea or the western pacific! at present, the us navy is first conducting adaptive training on the carrier-based aircraft f/a-18e/f. previously, it has publicly displayed pictures of carrier-based aircraft flying or static displays with aim-174b training bombs. this capability is particularly important for the us navy aircraft carrier formation, which will be required to intervene in the sino-us conflict as soon as possible in most cases. because this will enable it to obtain ultra-long-range strike capabilities against china's advanced fighters, special aircraft, early warning aircraft, and tankers for the first time, allowing its own aircraft carrier formation to stay 1,500 kilometers away, which is safer, so as to avoid china's long-range anti-ship strike firepower as much as possible.

but as shown in the picture, the f/a-18f is fully loaded. while it has strong offensive capabilities, its range is also greatly limited. after all, the weight and resistance of so many missiles will quickly consume the f/a-18f's internal fuel. although the weight of the aim-174b missile is unknown, its basic version sm-6 weighs 1.5 tons, so the aim-174b is not much worse. therefore, foreign media estimate that the total weight of these ammunition is at least 7.2 tons. if the f/a-18e/f chooses this mounting scheme to engage the pla fighter jets in actual combat, the us military must arrange aerial refueling services for it midway. although the infrared search and tracking system mounted on its belly is integrated with an fpu-13 auxiliary fuel tank, this small tank has less than 1.3 tons of fuel, which has a very limited effect on the range improvement.

however, the arrangement of tankers will make it the "prey" of the pla's j-20 and pl-15, or our ultra-long-range air-to-air missile pl-17. you should know that last year, the english version of the military website published a picture of a j-16 carrying 10 air-to-air missiles. in addition to the familiar pl-10, pl-12 and pl-15, the j-16 in the picture also prominently appeared a new air-to-air missile that was 5.7 meters long. later, this new missile, which was much longer than the pl-15 next to it, was considered to be my country's latest ultra-long-range air-to-air missile pl-17 (also called pl-21).

foreign media reported that the maximum range of this type of missile can reach more than 400 kilometers. however, judging from its diameter, its weight will not be much heavier than pl-15. therefore, the pl-17, which has a slightly lower range than the "claimed value" of aim-174b but a much lower body size and weight, will allow china to regain the ability to "kill" high-value assets such as us military early warning aircraft and tankers!

it seems that the aim-174b "emergency product" hastily developed by the us military has been surpassed by our army before it was finalized and mass-produced. it seems that the us is once again anxious about finding a new ultra-long-range missile that can effectively strike our military's early warning aircraft and other equipment!