A U.S. Marine Corps F-35B flew the first test missions with the Meteor missile, starting the integration of the European air-to-air missile on the Lightning II.
The Royal Air Force announced on Feb. 28, 2025, that an F-35 flew for the first time with the Meteor Beyond Visual Range Air to Air Missile (BVRAAM). Specifically, a U.S. Marine Corps F-35B, assigned to Air Test and Evaluation Squadron Two Three (VX-23), flew an unspecified number of sorties from Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland.
The photos show a single Meteor carried in the starboard weapons bay together with an AIM-120 AMRAAM. These first flights with the inert missile are being used to gather environmental data as part of the campaign to integrate UK weapons onto the F-35.
“This milestone is a testament to the effective collaboration between the multinational governmental and industrial partnerships that we have in place,” said Air Commodore Al Roberts, RAF’s Head of Air-to-Air Missiles. “Inclusion of Meteor onto the Lightning II will bring this formidable air combat capability to the UK and to the burgeoning F-35 community, significantly enhancing security among allies.”
Meteor is the UK’s primary air-to-air missile and is already employed by the Typhoon, with Italy about to do the same, and both countries are working towards enabling Meteor’s capability also on the F-35. The UK is leading the integration campaign for the F-35B at the F-35 Patuxent River Integrated Test Force (Pax ITF), while Italy is sponsoring the integration onto the F-35A model.
The RAF added that the testing was made possible due to the collaboration between the UK and US governments, as well as organizations including the Ministry of Defence, Defence Equipment & Support, and respective industrial partners MBDA and Lockheed Martin.
European weapons on the F-35
In 2019, BAE Systems, Lockheed Martin and MBDA launched the development works to upgrade the UK’s F-35 weapon systems with the Meteor air-to-air missile and the SPEAR 3 air-to-surface missile. This was followed in 2021 by another contract to BAE Systems and MBDA to complete the integration of the new weapons on both Italian and British F-35s.
As you may know already, the Italian Air Force operates both the F-35A and F-35B, while the Italian Navy, the Royal Air Force and the Royal Navy operate the F-35B only. Both countries decided to integrate on their F-35s the same European weapons used on the Typhoon.
In fact, the UK already operates the Meteor as its primary air-to-air missile on the Typhoon, with Italy set to follow suit soon after the completion of the test campaign. Similarly, both countries are acquiring the SPEAR 3 (Selective Precision Effects at Range Capability 3) air-to-surface missile, currently being tested on the Typhoon, which has been selected as the primary air-to-ground weapon of the British F-35Bs.
The UK also uses two other weapons on its F-35s, the AIM-132 ASRAAM (Advanced Short-Range Air-to-Air Missile) and the Paveway IV dual mode GPS/INS and laser-guided bomb, both manufactured locally. Both weapons are exclusive to British F-35s, as Italy has not adopted them.
Italy, in fact, will rely instead on the recently acquired AIM-9X Sidewinder and the GBU-12 Paveway II, in addition to the GBU-32 JDAM bombs and the GBU-39 SDB (Small Diameter Bombs) already in service and, in future, the GBU-53 SDB II, GBU-38 JDAM and GBU-54 Laser JDAM , which have not been acquired by the UK.
The Meteor BVRAAM.
The missile was developed by a group of European partners led by MBDA to meet the needs of the UK, Germany, Italy, France, Spain and Sweden. Considered one of the most lethal BVR missiles available today, Meteor is powered by a ramjet propulsion system, a solid fuel, variable flow, ducted rocket.
The advantage over a standard rocket motor, like the one used by the AIM-120 AMRAAM, is that the ramjet is throttleable, meaning that the missile can throttle back its engine during cruise and then throttle up at close distance from the target to obtain the highest possible energy state during the terminal attack.
This way, Meteor can provide a larger No-Escape Zone without losing precious energy while countering the target’s defensive maneuvers. A datalink provides mid-course updates about the target sent by the launcher aircraft to increase the Probability of Kill (Pk).
The missile is equipped with both impact and proximity fuses and a fragmentation warhead to maximize the lethality. Meteor has currently been integrated on the Typhoon, Gripen and Rafale and is scheduled to be integrated on the F-35.
