The Coming of the Meteor Missile

12/06/2012

The new Meteor missile developed by MBDA is a representative of a new generation of air combat missiles for a wide gamut of new air systems.

It can be fitted on the F-35, the Eurofighter, Rafale, Gripen and other 21st century aircraft.

The Background Environment

  • Increasing proliferation of state-of–the-art air-to-air threats is a critical challenge for modern Air Forces answered by METEOR;
  • METEOR is being developed to meet the requirements of six European nations (France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Sweden and UK) for a superior Beyond Visual Range (BVR) missile system with the operational capability to excel in all current and future combat scenarios;
  • This collaboration of six European nations provides access to technology and expertise from across Europe.
  • The range and performance of the Meteor and its ability to enable both older and new air systems moves air to air weapons into the next generation.

What is METEOR and what are its benefits?

  • A fast and highly manoeuvrable Beyond Visual Range air-to-air weapon
  • Largest No Escape Zone of any air-to-air weapon resulting in a long stand-off range and high kill probability to ensure air superiority and pilot survivability;
  • Guidance is provided by an active radar seeker benefiting from enhanced technologies drawn from the MBDA Aster and Mica missile programmes;
  • Capable of engaging air targets autonomously by night or day, in all weather and in severe electronic warfare environments ;
  • Equipped with both a proximity and impact fuze to ensure total target destruction in all circumstances.

METEOR will be integrated onto several major platforms:

  • Eurofighter Typhoon;
  • Saab Gripen; and
  • Dassault Rafale
  • Potential to add to the air-to-air capability of other combat platforms including the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter
  • Meteor provides a step change in capability increasing competitiveness in export competitions.

For a brochure explaining the Meteor see below:

The Meteor System

And an MBDA video showing aspects of the program and the development of the missile can be seen below: