At the beginning of August 2021, the German Air Force introduced the Meteor long-range air-to-air missile from MBDA on the Eurofighter was introduced. Recently – the exact date has now been announced by the Bundeswehr not specified – the first shot was fired for test purposes.
With an (official) range of up to 200 kilometers for the Mach 4 device with combined conventional/ramjet propulsion, such test firings cannot be carried out in Germany. This is why the tests were carried out from Lossiemouth in Scotland and over the Atlantic. The two-seater 31+25 (GT0028), from the first three two-seaters of Tranche-3, was put into service with the Tactical Air Force Wing 74 in Neuburg on August 10, 2017.
22 year old program
The European BVR guided missile (Beyond Visual Range) is often described as the best air-to-air missile. Its ability to “step on the gas” in the final phase – to put it simply – is particularly noteworthy. This significantly reduces the enemy’s “no escape” zone, making it extremely effective tactically. However, the 22 years since the start of the program are an impressive illustration of how outdated multinational “golden big-ticket” type major weapons projects can appear in today’s threat and conflict environments.
The development of the Meteor began in 2002 as a collaboration between Germany, France, Great Britain, Italy, Spain and Sweden. The first test firing took place in 2006. In 2022, Sweden was the first nation to report the weapon’s operational readiness on its Gripen C fighter aircraft from Saab.
The fact that a Meteor has now been fired from a German Eurofighter for the first time is rightly described by the Bundeswehr as an “important milestone for the weapon system” – especially for the jet’s main armament. The Meteor is now a “sword” weighing around 180 kilograms that flies largely autonomously thanks to active homing guidance. What is particularly remarkable is that the target data can still be adjusted during the flight. These adjustments can even be taken over by other fighter aircraft or support systems such as AWACS – another special technical feature of the Meteor.
Over 500 units for the air force
The Air Force received the first 150 Meteor between 2016 and 2018. In 2019, another 100 missiles were added for a total of 185 million euros. And in mid-November of this year, the budget committee of the German Bundestag released a total of 521 million euros for the procurement of further Meteors, including accessories. The exact number of the procurement was not specified, but according to experts it is likely to be around 270 units.
Here for further reports on the Bundeswehr and here to further news about MBDA.
