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8h ago

F-35B Completes First Internal-Bay Release of MBDA Meteor

The trial validated safe separation and produced test data to refine release models that will guide broader envelope releases and eventual live firings.

An F-35B Lightning II releases a Meteor weapon test asset during a jettison flight trial at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland, Oct. 7, 2026. The trial flight marked the first Meteor missile release from an F-35 internal weapons bay. (Image credit: MBDA UK via F-35 JPO)
F-35B drops Meteor test missile

Overview

  • An F-35B released an inert MBDA Meteor test asset from its internal weapons bay on Oct. 7, marking the first such jettison and confirming the missile separated without igniting its motor or activating control surfaces.
  • The F-35 Joint Program Office and MBDA said the trial demonstrated safe separation in a complex aerodynamic environment and generated instrumented data to validate and refine aerodynamic and digital release models.
  • A joint U.S.-UK test team that included a Royal Navy test pilot from the Air and Space Warfare Centre and personnel attached to the F-35 Integrated Test Force conducted the sortie at Naval Air Station Patuxent River.
  • Program partners including MBDA, Lockheed Martin, BAE Systems and Northrop Grumman will use the data to run expanded release profiles across the flight envelope before moving to live-fire tests to confirm separation and fly-out performance.
  • Integrating Meteor on the F-35B aims to give UK and Italian operators a longer-range, networked air-to-air option thanks to Meteor’s throttleable ramjet sustainer and two-way datalink, which sustain propulsion and allow mid-course updates for a larger no-escape zone.