General Atomics unveils the AIM-174B with Vectorex submunitions.
The American company presented at Euronaval 2026 a concept for converting a long-range air-to-air missile into an attack weapon. Miniaturized Vectorex ammunition, originally for 155mm guns, fits into the nose section, forming a cassette warhead.
This architecture extends the total range beyond 600 km. The submunitions have an RCS of only 0.01 m2, making them difficult to detect even by modern AD systems, especially when supported by EA-18G Growler or EC-37B Compass Call aircraft. A squadron of F/A-18E/F can saturate enemy radar channels and overwhelm air defense batteries.