Chinese fighter jets have no chance against a “polished” F/A-18 Super Hornet

What you need to know: The US Navy recently displayed an F/A-18 Super Hornet loaded with advanced air-to-air munitions during Exercise Gray Flag 2024, highlighting an improved strategy to combat Chinese aircraft from long ranges.

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

-This approach reflects the Navy’s focus on upgrading fourth-generation fighter jets with advanced munitions, as evidenced by the addition of the AGM-158C LRASM anti-ship missile.

-This expands the F/A-18’s combat role in fifth-generation airspace, increasing its effectiveness in a similar conflict in the Indo-Pacific region.

Navy’s F/A-18 Super Hornet now equipped to fight Chinese aircraft from 200 miles away

A recent photo shoot revealed how the US Navy plans to shoot down Chinese planes before they even come within range and are dangerous.

Publicly released photos showed a ‘polished’ F/A-18 Super Hornet with some of the most advanced air-to-air munitions.

A sexy F/A-18 Super Hornet

At the end of the Gray Flag Exercise 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 with quite interesting equipment.

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 an IRST (Infrared Search and Track) mounted on an external fuel tank.

Like the Aviationist According to reports, this was the second time the F/A-18 Super Hornet carried this equipment as part of Gray Flag.

The 120 AIM-120 Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile (AMRAAM) radio-homing missile and the AIM-9 Sidewinder heat-seeking missile are staples of an air-to-air combat deployment. However, the presence of the AIM-174B demonstrates the increased use of new air-to-air combat munitions.

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

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

By comparison, the AIM-174B can more than reach targets 200 miles away. That’s an incredible upgrade over existing munitions and means it can shoot down American fighter jets Chinese aircraft before they even come within range of being dangerous.

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

As part of the exercise, the Navy worked with the Air Force and Army to fly more than 600 aircraft flights and test dozens of air and land systems.

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

Linking old aircraft to new ammunition

The US Navy is increasingly experimenting with the capabilities of its navy F/A-18 fleet in an effort to make the fourth-generation fighter jet more effective in fifth-generation airspace.

For example, over the summer the Navy equipped an F/A-18 Super Hornet with the 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.

Combining older platforms with advanced munitions is an excellent way to circumvent the disadvantages that older aircraft could have in a fifth-generation airspace. To be fair, equipping an F/A-18 Super Hornet with stealth munitions does not make the fighter jet a fifth-generation aircraft capable of taking on Chinese stealth fighter jets.

But it does increase his options and chances to survive in an almost equal conflict.

About the author

Stavros Atlamazoglou is a seasoned defense journalist, specializing in special operations and a Greek Army veteran (national service with the 575th Marine Battalion and Army HQ). He holds a BA from Johns Hopkins University and an MA from Johns Hopkins’ School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). His work can be seen in Business insider, ZandboxxAnd SOFREP.

Image credits: Creative Commons.