Europe Military Aircraft Procurement Missile Systems & Strategic Weapons

F-35B completes first internal-bay release test of MBDA Meteor

An F-35B has released an MBDA Meteor long-range air-to-air missile test asset from its internal weapons bay for the first time, in U.S.-conducted work commissioned by the UK and Italy. The test advances efforts to integrate the missile with the short-takeoff-and-vertical-landing variant.

Discovered 2026-11-06T02:10:39.295867-08:00 | 2026-11-06T02:10:39.295867-08:00

Briefing

What Hype is tracking

The internal-bay release is an integration milestone for the F-35B and Meteor, a long-range air-to-air weapon, supporting UK and Italian efforts to field the missile on the variant.
Conducting the test in the United States under UK and Italian commission underscores the multinational coordination involved in integrating weapons across the F-35 program.

Reported By

AeroTime milmag.pl