Tag Archives: AIM-424

DCS Missions
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Can the AIM-424 Malice Make a 350-Mile Air-to-Air Kill?

Today we take our fourth look at the newly announced USN AIM-424 Malice super-long-range air-to-air missile in DCS World — and this time we’re pushing it to the absolute limit.

The goal: a record-breaking 350-mile air-to-air missile shot against a high-value target.

Can the AIM-424 Malice actually reach a target at this extreme range, and can it receive enough guidance data to make the shot possible?

Off-Board Guidance at Extreme Range

The F-35 launching the missile won’t be able to track the target with its own radar at 350 miles.

Instead, we’ll use a hidden F-35 positioned much closer to the target. Its AESA LPI radar will illuminate the target and provide tracking information and datalink firing data back to the launching F-35, allowing the AIM-424 to use off-board missile guidance.

This means the launching aircraft does not need to directly detect or track the target itself. Instead, another aircraft provides the targeting information needed to support the missile shot.

The Target

The target is a fictional UK presidential aircraft, protected by Eurofighter Typhoon FGR4s during a fictional period of heightened tensions.

The forward F-35 has to carefully manoeuvre around the Typhoons, remaining outside their detection range while maintaining the target track needed to support the long-range missile shot.

That creates another challenge: the forward F-35 must remain close enough to maintain the necessary tracking information without being detected or intercepted by the defending fighters.

Testing the AIM-424 Malice

This is a fictional DCS World scenario created to test the AIM-424 Malice’s extreme-range capabilities — not a geopolitical scenario.

The purpose is to explore whether this type of extraordinarily long-range air-to-air engagement could work within the simulation.

Can we achieve a 350-mile shot?

Is the AIM-424’s range kinematically possible?

Can the F-35’s AESA radar and datalink provide the necessary electronic support?

Let’s find out.

DCS Missions

B-21 Raider Armed With 40 AIM-424 Malice Missiles vs Chinese Carrier Air Wing

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We take a second look at the newly announced next-generation US air-to-air missile concept, the AIM-424 Malice.

This time, we explore a very different scenario: a futuristic B-21 Raider stealth bomber armed with 40 AIM-424 Malice missiles.

With a claimed range of more than 250 miles, could a single stealth aircraft potentially engage dozens of enemy targets from long range?

We put the B-21 Raider to the ultimate test in a simulated engagement against an entire late-2010s Chinese carrier air wing: 24 J-15 fighter jets, each equipped with PL-15 air-to-air missiles with an estimated range of around 120 miles.

Can one heavily armed B-21 Raider overcome an entire carrier air wing? How does the AIM-424 Malice compare with the PL-15, and what would long-range stealth air combat look like?

Join us as we explore this hypothetical future air battle and find out whether the B-21 and AIM-424 Malice can pull off the impossible.

DCS Missions

With The AIM-424 Malice, Could The US Now Remove China From The Pacific? | DCS

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Today we take our first look at the newly announced USN AIM-424 Malice, a super long-range air-to-air missile designed to engage targets at extreme distances.

We break down the AIM-424 Malice missile, how it is expected to work, its potential capabilities, and what a weapon with a reported 250 nautical mile range could mean for modern air combat.

Then we put the concept to the test in DCS World with a modern Pacific scenario.

The US is invading a small but strategically important island when the PLAAF and PLAN launch a huge multi-pronged strike to stop the invasion. Rather than engage the incoming fighters head-on, the US takes a different approach.

F-35Cs operating from a US carrier group are tasked with hunting the most important targets behind the fighter screen: AWACS, electronic warfare, command and control, and aerial refuelling aircraft.

Using the new AIM-424 Malice, the F-35Cs attempt to strike these support assets from extreme range. With targeting information provided by an AWACS aircraft positioned around 400 miles behind the battle, the AIM-424 is fired over the heads of incoming J-20 and J-35 fighters to attack the aircraft keeping the Chinese strike package effective.

The strategy is simple: remove the support aircraft and the entire attack could begin to collapse.

But extreme-range air combat is anything but simple. Timing, targeting, missile guidance and situational awareness all have to come together perfectly — and one mistake could allow the PLAAF and PLAN strike to break through.

The stakes are high.

Could the AIM-424 Malice change the way air combat is fought across the vast distances of the Pacific?

Watch as we explore the missile concept and put it to the ultimate test in DCS World.