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F-35A Stealth Jet Closer to Carry MBDA Meteor Air-to-Air Missile Following Integration Test Success.
MBDA, Lockheed Martin and the F-35 Joint Program Office have completed major ground integration tests to validate safe carriage and release of the Meteor missile from the F-35A’s internal bay. The step positions the program for flight trials and marks a significant shift in NATO air combat reach and readiness.
On 4 December 2025, as reported by MBDA, the integration of the European Meteor air-to-air missile onto the US-built F-35A stealth fighter reached a decisive new stage. MBDA, Lockheed Martin and the F-35 Joint Program Office have completed a major series of ground integration tests, confirming that the missile can be safely carried and deployed from the aircraft’s internal weapons bay. This milestone, achieved at Edwards Air Force Base in California, places the programme on the threshold of flight testing and paves the way for full operational pairing of Europe’s flagship beyond-visual-range missile with the West’s most widely procured 5th-generation combat aircraft. Beyond the technical success, the announcement signals an important evolution in NATO and European air combat capabilities, with direct implications for deterrence and air superiority in contested theatres.
With one final ground test remaining before flight trials, the Meteor–F-35 programme has now crossed a key threshold from design to practical integration (Picture Source: MBDA / U.S. Air Force)
The recent campaign of ground vibration trials and fit checks was designed to verify how the F-35A and Meteor interact as a complete weapon system. Engineers instrumented both aircraft and missile to measure structural responses as the missile was subjected to a range of vibration frequencies, while also confirming clearances inside the internal bay and around adjacent stores. These tests, carried out with the missile mounted in the F-35A’s bay, are essential steps to ensure that carriage and release do not compromise the aircraft’s stealth shaping or generate unsafe loads. According to MBDA, only one further ground test is required before the programme can transition to airborne firings, bringing the Meteor–F-35A combination “one step closer” to operational status. The work builds on earlier flight trials of Meteor on the F-35B conducted by the Royal Air Force, with the UK leading integration on the STOVL variant while Italy sponsors the F-35A effort, illustrating the multinational character of the programme.
At the heart of this development lies Meteor itself, conceived as a collaborative programme between six European nations, the UK, Italy, France, Germany, Spain and Sweden, to counter evolving air threats at long range. Meteor is a network-enabled beyond-visual-range air-to-air missile that departs from traditional solid-rocket designs. Instead of a single boost phase followed by an unpowered glide, it employs a throttleable solid-fuel ramjet, often described as a variable-flow ducted rocket, allowing the missile to sustain and modulate thrust throughout its flight. This propulsion concept underpins Meteor’s significantly enlarged “no-escape zone”, meaning hostile aircraft that have been engaged have far fewer options to outrun or out-maneuver the missile compared with earlier BVR weapons. An active radar seeker provides terminal guidance, while inertial navigation and a two-way data link enable mid-course updates, retargeting and dynamic optimisation of the intercept. Coupled with a blast-fragmentation warhead and dual impact/proximity fuzing, the design aims to maximise the probability of kill against manoeuvring and high-value targets. Already in frontline service on Saab Gripen, Eurofighter Typhoon and Dassault Rafale, and now being trialled on South Korea’s KF-21 Boramae, Meteor’s extension to the F-35 family is a logical next step in its evolution.
For F-35A operators, integrating Meteor is not just a matter of adding another weapon to the loadout; it reshapes how the aircraft can be employed in the air-to-air role. The F-35’s sensor suite, combining an AESA radar, electro-optical systems and passive electronic support measures, is designed to detect, classify and track threats at long range while the aircraft remains difficult to detect. Pairing these sensors with a ramjet-powered BVR missile able to sustain energy deep into the engagement allows the F-35A to prosecute targets at distances where adversary fighters may struggle to respond effectively. Because Meteor can receive guidance updates over a data link, the F-35A can engage threats cooperatively, either using its own sensors or exploiting information from other platforms in a networked battlespace. Internal carriage of Meteor preserves the aircraft’s low-observable configuration, allowing it to maintain stealth while armed with a missile optimised for long-range intercepts rather than being forced to rely on external pylons that would compromise signature. In practical terms, this gives aircrews greater flexibility in choosing when and how to reveal themselves, complicating the calculus for any opponent.
The geostrategic implications of this pairing are significant. For European and NATO air forces operating F-35As and F-35Bs, Meteor offers a European-developed air-to-air missile that matches the stealth fighter’s own emphasis on survivability, connectivity and reach, reinforcing both transatlantic industrial cooperation and European strategic autonomy. Italy’s sponsorship of the F-35A integration, alongside the UK’s leadership on F-35B, underscores how partner nations are using the F-35 programme to embed their own high-end weapon systems into a common combat aircraft fleet. As Meteor becomes available across more F-35 user communities, it is likely to influence air-policing concepts in the Baltic and Black Sea regions, air defence of carrier strike groups, and quick reaction alert postures over Europe’s northern and southern flanks. The message to potential adversaries is clear: any attempt to contest NATO airspace will face a combination of low-observable platforms and long-range, high-energy missiles designed specifically to deny escape. At the same time, the integration effort illustrates a broader trend in 21st-century air combat, in which the decisive advantage comes from the interplay between platform, sensors, weapons and networks rather than from any single system in isolation.
With one final ground test remaining before flight trials, the Meteor–F-35A programme has now crossed a key threshold from design to practical integration. If subsequent airborne firings confirm the results seen on the ground, European F-35 fleets will gain a long-range air-to-air capability aligned with the aircraft’s 5th-generation design philosophy and already proven on other European fighters. For MBDA, Lockheed Martin and the nations backing Meteor, this step represents more than just a successful test sequence: it is a concrete move toward a future air combat environment in which stealth aircraft and ramjet-powered missiles operate as a single, tightly integrated system, giving allied air forces a decisive edge in deterring and, if necessary, countering modern air threats.
Written by Teoman S. Nicanci – Defense Analyst, Army Recognition Group
Teoman S. Nicanci holds degrees in Political Science, Comparative and International Politics, and International Relations and Diplomacy from leading Belgian universities, with research focused on Russian strategic behavior, defense technology, and modern warfare. He is a defense analyst at Army Recognition, specializing in the global defense industry, military armament, and emerging defense technologies.