Meteor on the F-35: first jettison test from the internal weapons bay, with particular interest from Greece

A Meteor missile was released for the first time from the internal weapons bay of an F-35B and cleared the fuselage safely. The jettison test took place on October 7 in the United States, and MBDA announced it on Thursday, November 5, in a statement on its website and a post on X, as a significant milestone in integrating the European air-to-air missile on the American fifth-generation fighter. “The Meteor missile completed its first jettison from an F-35B’s internal weapons bay in the US, marking a key integration milestone. Further trials will follow ahead of live firings,” the company’s UK arm said.

The flight was the first in a series of jettison tests. In these tests engineers check whether the weapon leaves the aircraft cleanly and safely, either in normal conditions or when the pilot has to jettison it in an emergency, without striking the fuselage, damaging the wings or disturbing the fighter’s behaviour in the air. On the F-35 the release is made from the internal weapons bay, in a complex aerodynamic environment.

Live firings are next

MBDA says the jettison was completed safely and that the flight gave valuable data to improve the digital models used to predict how the weapon behaves at the moment of release. In the coming months the Meteor will be tested in various release profiles, to confirm its safe separation from the F-35 across the aircraft’s entire operational flight envelope. These development jettisons will lead to live firings, which will confirm both the separation and the missile’s flight performance under various release conditions.

The test missile was prepared and loaded by a joint British-American team of the F-35 Integrated Test Force (ITF), with personnel of the Royal Navy, the Royal Air Force (RAF) and Lockheed Martin. The flight was flown by a Royal Navy test pilot assigned to the Air Warfare Centre (ASWC) and integrated into the ITF.

Britain for the F-35B, Italy for the F-35A

Integration is moving along two parallel lines: the United Kingdom leads the programme for the F-35B and Italy funds the corresponding work for the F-35A. Earlier came the first Meteor flights on the F-35B and ground tests on the F-35A at Edwards Air Force Base, while new funding was secured to complete Meteor integration on both versions for the armed forces of the two countries, as well as the SPEAR weapon on British F-35s.

The Meteor is a beyond-visual-range (BVR) air-to-air missile developed for the needs of six European countries: the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, France, Spain and Sweden. A ramjet engine drives it all the way to the intercept, and MBDA presents it as the air-to-air missile with the largest “no escape zone”.

For Greece the progress is of particular interest. The Hellenic Air Force already has the Meteor on its Rafales and is waiting for its own F-35As, so certification of the missile on the American fighter would let it use the same weapon on two aircraft types.