US Navy unveils advanced air-to-air missile with 300-mile range

LONDON – The US Navy is testing a new air-to-air missile that can hit targets more than 465 kilometres (290 miles) away, considerably farther than any other known weapon of that type.The AIM-424 Malice, developed by RTX subsidiary Raytheon, has roughly the same dimensions as the current-generation AIM-120 AMRAAM, according to the Navy. That means it can fit in the internal weapons bays of the F-35 and F-22 stealth aircraft.Such weapons came into sharp focus in 2025 when Pakistan said it used long-range Chinese-made missiles – with a reported range of about 300km – to down Indian fighter jets.Although missiles with that range can be used to hit high-value aircraft such as command planes or tankers, they might be more valuable for defending ships, said Peter Layton, a former Royal Australian Air Force officer and a visiting fellow at the Griffith Asia Institute.“I think it’s meant to counter Chinese bombers firing long range anti-ship cruise missiles,” Layton said. “Fleet air defence, not air-to-air combat.”Attacking aircraft at extreme range requires sensors that can spot them at that distance and guide the missiles. Faster jets can defeat long-range attacks by simply flying in the opposite direction.The Navy did not say when the new weapon would be operational.The Pentagon has long been interested in extremely long range air-to-air missiles, which have been largely absent from the US arsenal since the retirement of the AIM-54 Phoenix and the only aircraft that carried it, the F-14 Tomcat.Lockheed Martin was awarded about US$1 billion (S$1.27 billion) in 2026 to begin production of the AIM-260, another extremely long-range air to air missile.The AIM-174B, an air-to-air variant of the SM-6 air and missile defense weapon, has been operational for several years, with a reported range of more than 400km.Malice was unveiled on Aug 22 at the Navy’s Tailhook symposium in Reno, Nevada. BLOOMBERG