The Italian Air Force deployed its F-2000 Typhoons equipped with Meteor missiles to Romania for the NATO Enhanced Air Policing.
The Italian Air Force has released the first photos of its F-2000s (as the single seat Eurofighter Typhoons are designated in Italy) equipped with the MBDA Meteor Beyond Visual Range Air to Air Missile (BVRAAM). The aircraft in the photos are currently deployed to Romania for the NATO Enhanced Air Policing mission.
This first sighting comes just two months after the service completed the second phase of the Operational Test & Evaluation (OT&E) for the employment of the weapon on its Typhoons. The ItAF conducted two OT&E campaign, with the first one in 2023, evaluating the integration of Meteor as part of the P2E(b) – Phase 2 Enhancement bravo – upgrade.
NATO EAP
The Italian Typhoons are currently deployed since early April to Mihail Kogălniceanu Air Base in Romania as part of the Task Force Air 51st Wing and the “Black Storm II” mission. While assigned to the NATO Enhanced Air Policing mission, the aircraft will work alongside the Romanian Air Force F-16s to ensure the safety of the Romanian airspace.
In fact, on Apr. 28, 2025, two Typhoon were scrambled in support of Romanian F-16s responding to a potential threat in the north-eastern sector of the country. This was the first Alpha-Scramble since the four Typhoons of the detachment were declared operational on Apr. 10.
The order was issued by the NATO Combined Air Operations Center (CAOC) in Torrejón, following the detection of a potential threat to NATO airspace. The Italian and Romanian jets on Quick Reaction Alert (QRA) duty were launched to conduct a Combat Air Patrol (CAP), under direction of Control and Reporting Center (CRC) in Balotești.
The ItAF provided some more details in its statement, hinting that the event happened at night. In fact, the service mentioned the joint mission patrolled the northern border near Tulcea, working to locate and monitor drones approaching NATO airspace, before returning to base after some hours at 5 a.m.
Italian Meteors
The ItAF did not explicitly mention the introduction of the Meteor BVRAAM missile. However, when the detachment reached the Full Operational Capability (FOC), the service mentioned that the fighters are equipped with new generation weapons, possibly referring to the new air-to-air weapon.
The F-2000s, as seen in the photos, are carrying the standard loadout used by the ItAF on Air Policing deployment. This includes two external fuel tanks, a Litening 5 targeting pod on the centerline, two IRIS-T IR-guided short-range air-to-air missiles on the outer pylons and two Meteor missiles on the fuselage’s semi-recessed stations.
Until now, the ItAF F-2000s used the AIM-120C-5 as the standard active radar homing (ARH) medium-range weapon. For the time being, it is possible both weapons will continue to be used by the Typhoon is a complementary manner, depending on mission requirements.
The Italian Typhoons now join the UK, Germany and Spain, which already employ Meteor on their Eurofighters. The weapon is also used by Rafales and Gripens, and is being integrated on the F-35.
Meteor BVRAAM
The Meteor Beyond Visual Range Air to Air Missile (BVRAAM) 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 being integrated on the F-35 and the KF-21. In fact, the South Korean fighter is scheduled to be equipped with two European air-to-air missiles, Meteor and IRIS-T.
In 2021, a Typhoon rendering showed an astonishing “Beast Mode” with 14 Meteors and two IRIS-T (InfraRed Imaging System Tail-Thrust Vector Controlled) short-range air-to-air missiles, along with an external fuel tank on the centerline station. This quite improbable configuration was obtained by using twin missile rails on the two inner pylons, however the most likely configuration would see the Typhoon equipped with up to six Meteors.
The Italian Air Force has selected the long-range missile for the Eurofighter fleet but it was apparently slower in fielding it, compared to other partner nations that have already been using it for several years. Considering that the use of the Meteor was a declared theme of some of the latest exercises, it’s safe to believe the missile will soon appear on the Italian Typhoons.
