Royal Navy pilot conducts first F-35B Meteor missile release test

An F-35B has released an inert Meteor beyond-visual-range air-to-air missile from its internal weapons bay for the first time. The test is a small but welcome step in the long-delayed effort to integrate British weapons on the Lightning.

The trial took place at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland on 7th October but was announced by MBDA and the F-35 Joint Program Office on 5th November. The sortie was flown by an RN test pilot from the Air and Space Warfare Centre, working with the joint UK-US F-35 Integrated Test Force.

The weapon test asset was dropped from the internal bay without its rocket motor firing or control surfaces activating. The purpose was to confirm it could separate safely from the aircraft and gather aerodynamic data to refine models used ahead of more demanding release trials.

The RAF announced the first F-35B flights carrying Meteor in its weapons bay in February 2025. One Meteor can be carried in each of the B variant’s two weapons bays, allowing the aircraft to maximise its stealth. An AMRAAM and a Meteor can be seen in the bay with the doors open.

Meteor will now be released across a wider range of flight conditions before the programme moves to live firings. Integration will eventually give British F-35Bs a substantial improvement in beyond-visual-range air combat compared with their existing AIM-120 AMRAAM armament.

The Meteor integration programme is a joint UK-Italian effort, with Britain leading work on the F-35B and Italy sponsoring integration on the conventional take-off F-35A. Italy operates both variants.

Meteor is widely regarded as one of the most capable beyond-visual-range air-to-air missiles in service. Unlike conventional rocket-powered missiles such as AMRAAM, Meteor uses a throttleable ramjet propulsion system that sustains thrust over much of its flight, allowing it to retain high energy and manoeuvrability even at extreme range. This gives it an exceptionally large ‘no-escape zone’, the area within which an enemy aircraft has little prospect of evading interception. Its active radar seeker, two-way datalink and ability to receive targeting updates from other platforms make it particularly effective against agile fighters and other high-value airborne targets (image MBDA).

Combined with the F-35’s stealth and advanced sensors, Meteor will eventually offer a formidable air combat capability. The RAF has had Meteor in service for almost eight years on the Typhoon, yet its F-35Bs are still some way from being able to employ it. Progress integrating UK weapons with F-35 has been far too slow. Meteor and the SPEAR-3 precision strike missile have been planned for Lightning for many years, but neither is yet available operationally. SPEAR-3 is arguably the more pressing requirement. F-35B already has a credible beyond-visual-range air-to-air weapon in AMRAAM, but its lack of a powered stand-off precision strike weapon is a more serious limitation when operating against modern air defences.

In October, the MoD confirmed that the complete SPEAR-3 integration programme and release to service is now expected in the early 2030s, dependent partly on US-led priorities and the availability of F-35 test aircraft. As recently as April, fielding had been targeted for financial year 2028-29.

The delay has prompted the UK to approve the acquisition of the US GBU-53/B StormBreaker, also known as Small Diameter Bomb II, as an interim stand-off weapon until SPEAR 3 becomes available. The successful Meteor release is a move in the right direction, but also illustrates how much work remains before the UK can exploit the F-35B with the weapons originally intended for it.