Long-Range Shock: Hornets Out-Stick China

The Navy’s new **AIM-174B “Gunslinger”** missile quietly gives American pilots the long reach they lost when the Phoenix was retired—without the proven failures that critics claim.

Story Snapshot

The AIM-174B, an air-launched version of the SM-6, entered operational service on Super Hornets in 2024, restoring true long-range air-to-air firepower.
This missile is designed to match or beat China’s longest-range fighter weapons, helping U.S. carriers punch through Beijing’s anti-access bubble in the Indo-Pacific.
No primary record proves the old AIM-54 Phoenix “missed every shot” in combat, even though pundits repeat that line to attack today’s program.
Trump-era missile investments and production expansion for the SM-6 family give the AIM-174B real industrial backing instead of paper promises.

A New Long-Range Missile That Finally Matches China’s Reach

In 2024, Navy F/A-18 Super Hornet squadrons began flying with the **AIM-174B**, an air-to-air version of the Standard Missile 6 built for extreme range fights. This missile rides the proven SM-6 production line but is tuned for killing enemy aircraft, not just defending ships. It can reach out hundreds of miles and flies around Mach 3.5, putting it in the same class as China’s longest-range fighter missiles like the PL-15 and PL-17 that threaten U.S. carriers. For years, Beijing’s jets could shoot first from beyond visual range; now American pilots finally have a tool to answer that reach.

Defense reporting and Navy statements show the AIM-174B is already in **operational service**, not just a test toy. The Naval War College notes that Chinese experts themselves worry the missile may be the longest-range air-to-air weapon in the world, restoring “super long-ranged” firepower to carrier fighters after the F-14 Tomcat and AIM-54 Phoenix left service. That matters in any future fight over the South China Sea or Taiwan, where communist China tries to keep American power far away from its coast. Long-range missiles on U.S. jets help break that wall and defend allies without bowing to Beijing’s demands.

From Phoenix Gap to Gunslinger: Fixing a Long-Range Weak Spot

When the Navy retired the AIM-54 Phoenix and the F-14 in 2004, it created what analysts now call the **“Phoenix Gap”**—our fighters lost a true long-range air-to-air punch. Medium-range weapons like the AIM-120 helped, but they could not match the reach of newer Chinese and Russian missiles aimed at friendly tankers, AWACS aircraft, and carrier groups. The AIM-174B Gunslinger is built to close that gap. Based on the ship-launched SM-6, the air-launched weapon is about 15.5 feet long and weighs around 1,900 pounds, turning Super Hornets into long-range interceptors that can “out-stick” adversary fighters and hit threats before they get close.

Importantly for concerned taxpayers, this is not a brand-new science project with no support. The U.S. Navy’s own year-in-review details major 2024 milestones across the SM-6 family, including new contracts for guidance upgrades and expanded production that also benefit the AIM-174B. The Missile Defense Agency is already looking at using Gunslinger with special “area effect” warheads to help stop hypersonic weapons, showing that Washington sees this missile as a flexible part of the wider air and missile defense network, not a one-off gimmick. That is the kind of serious planning conservatives demand after decades of waste on failed ship programs and “transformational” toys that never worked.

Did Phoenix Really “Miss Every Shot”? What the Record Shows

Critics on social media and some defense sites love to claim the Cold War AIM-54 Phoenix **“missed every shot America fired in anger”**, using that phrase to paint long-range air-to-air missiles as a failed idea. But so far, no primary Navy combat log, pilot debrief, or official report has surfaced that proves this sweeping claim. A NAVAIR release confirms Phoenix served from 1974 until retirement in 2004, but it does not state that the missile never hit a combat target or “missed every shot.” That silence from official records cuts both ways—it does not prove success, but it also does not confirm the harsh narrative opponents push.

For Trump supporters who are tired of being **manipulated by sloppy media**, this really matters. When pundits repeat “missed every shot” without real evidence, they prime the public to see the AIM-174B as another doomed project rather than a needed answer to China’s missile reach. That kind of spin makes it harder to win support in Congress for serious deterrence spending. It also distracts from the real question that patriots care about: does this new missile give American pilots the reach and reliability they need to win the next fight, not refight the last one? Until we see honest test data, it is wise to push for transparency but wrong to assume failure based on a meme.

Money, Production, and the Risk of Another Pentagon Boondoggle

Many conservatives worry that any new missile will turn into another **Littoral Combat Ship-style** mess—lots of hype, little performance, and big bills. That fear is fair. The Navy has spent billions on programs that broke down or never met their goals, and defense industry giants often chase bigger marketing wins like new cruise missiles while leaving niche systems in the shadows. Early production of the SM-6 family is limited and costly, with ship-launched rounds priced at over $4 million each, and the Army now wants SM-6 variants for land-based strike missions too.

Yet there are signs this time may be different if Congress keeps pressure on. The Navy is pouring over $100 million into expanding manufacturing for related interceptor types and has secured full-rate production approval for the SM-3 Block IIA, showing that missile factories are scaling up instead of winding down. The same industrial base supports the AIM-174B. If Trump’s Pentagon continues demanding hard metrics—hit rates, range proof, and real-world drills—and cuts funding for weapons that fail those tests, this missile can avoid becoming another wasteful project. It can be a tool that defends carriers, protects pilots, and backs up American power against China and Iran while respecting taxpayers and the Constitution’s demand for a strong but accountable national defense.