Missile AIM-424 LRAAM Malice

The AIM-424 Malice is a very-long-range air-to-air missile under development for the United States Navy. The program traces to the Long-Range Engagement Weapon (LREW) effort, with development work running from the mid-2010s. The missile was publicly acknowledged at the Tailhook Association symposium in Reno, Nevada, on 22 August 2026, though imagery of the round had circulated since April 2026. The Navy states the weapon is intended to restore fleet air-defense reach lost when the AIM-54 Phoenix was withdrawn from service in 2004, and to counter Chinese long-range air-to-air weapons.

The Malice is substantially larger and heavier than the AIM-120 AMRAAM. Propulsion is by a two-stage solid-propellant rocket motor, providing the missile's extended reach and a maximum speed stated to exceed that of the AIM-174B; the figure has not been released. The missile carries a blast-fragmentation warhead. Guidance includes a datalink designed specifically for engagements at extended distance; the seeker type has not been disclosed, nor has the method by which the missile is cued against targets beyond the launching aircraft's own sensor range. The Navy has not stated whether secondary anti-surface or anti-ballistic modes exist. Published dimensional and performance figures may have been rounded or altered for counter-intelligence purposes.

The stated targeting priority is not enemy fighters but the aircraft supporting them — airborne early warning platforms, tankers and electronic-warfare aircraft — which shorter-ranged weapons cannot reach without the launch aircraft entering defended airspace. In capability the missile is positioned between the AIM-260 JATM and the AIM-174B. Its relationship to the Air Force's AIM-260 program, which has run under tight secrecy since 2017, has not been clarified.

Carriage has been demonstrated externally on the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, with four rounds carried on wing pylons, and internally in the F-35C Lightning II weapons bay. The missile is also intended for the F/A-XX carrier fighter, which has not been awarded, and is described as compatible with fourth-, fifth- and sixth-generation platforms, with potential application to the Air Force F-47. Given its mass, internal carriage on stealth aircraft comes at the cost of magazine depth.

The missile remains in development and testing. No initial operational capability date, procurement quantity or unit cost has been disclosed. It has not entered service and has no operational users or combat record.