This new air-to-air missile appears to be the US Navy’s answer to the growing reach of China’s weapons

That is even more important, he said, considering “the Super Hornet as the primary fighter type still for the US Navy has significantly less impressive kinematic performance itself than the J-20 or J-16,” which carry the PL-15 and PL-17.

The AIM-174B gives US Navy carrier air wings a new ability to engage China’s air force and naval aviation aircraft at a greater range than its predecessor, potentially closing the gap.

The ship-launched SM-6 missile, also known as the RIM-174, is believed to have a range of up to 230 miles, and it saw combat for the first time last fall against the Houthis. The missile is a three-in-one extended-range weapon for anti-air and anti-surface warfare. It’s also able to kill ballistic missiles during the terminal phase of flight.

In an air-to-air role, it brings some of those capabilities to bear in new ways to help the US match newer Chinese weapons.

Bronk said the PL-17 is probably most comparable to the AIM-174B, but the Chinese weapon might have a longer range, in part because of the platforms that are primarily going to be carrying it.

The air-to-air missile range game is expected to continue though. As the Pentagon noted in its report, China is at work on its air-to-air missiles, and the US is likewise working on next-generation systems like the AIM-260.

Estimates on exactly how the new AIM-174B and China’s missiles could perform are based on publicly available data and understanding, and there’s a gap in the knowledge of how the missile would actually perform. But even the weapon’s existence could be enough to be useful to the US Navy.

“Deterrence,” Bronk said, “is about affecting your opponent’s calculations, so in some ways, there’s inevitably going to be a degree of ambiguity.”