A US Marine Corps F-35 carries an inert Meteor BVRAAM in one of its two internal weapons bays during tests that will eventually see the missile integrated on Italian and UK aircraft. (US DoD)
The MBDA Meteor beyond-visual-range air-to-air missile (BVRAAM) has for the first time been flown aboard the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II combat aircraft.
The UK Royal Air Force (RAF) announced the event on 28 February, saying that a short take-off and vertical landing (STOVL)-variant F-35B belonging to the US Marine Corps (USMC) had carried an inert missile in tests flown out of Naval Air Station (NAS) Patuxent River in Maryland.
As noted in the announcement, the tests involved both the UK and US governments, as well as the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD), Defence Equipment and Support (DE&S), and industrial partners MBDA and Lockheed Martin.
The Meteor BVRAAM has been described by industry and military officials as providing a step change in air-to-air combat capabilities. With a speed of more than Mach 4 and a range in excess of 100 km, the Meteor is powered by a ramjet, which means it is propelled up to the point of impact, whereas similar-type missiles have a relatively short boost-phase after launch, following which they glide to the target while bleeding energy.
“Meteor is the UK's primary air-to-air missile and is carried on operations by [the Eurofighter] Typhoon, with this step being progress towards enabling Meteor's capability on F-35. While the UK is leading the integration campaign for F-35B, Italy is sponsoring integration onto the F-35A model, allowing both aircraft types to take advantage of Meteor's inclusion,” the RAF said.
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