An F-35B released a Meteor weapon test asset from its internal weapons bay for the first time during a developmental flight trial at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland, on 7 October. The release demonstrated safe separation in the aircraft’s aerodynamic environment and generated data to refine weapon-release models. The trial is part of integration work for British and Italian F-35 fleets; it was not a live missile firing or operational clearance.
A combined UK-US F-35 Integrated Test Force team, including Royal Navy, Royal Air Force and Lockheed Martin personnel, prepared and loaded the test asset. A Royal Navy test pilot assigned to the Air and Space Warfare Centre flew the sortie.
Further release profiles are planned over the coming months to assess safe separation across the F-35’s operational envelope. The developmental campaign is expected to culminate in live firings to evaluate separation and the missile’s performance after release under different conditions.
The integration effort is supported by the UK, US and Italian defence ministries, as well as Lockheed Martin, BAE Systems, MBDA and Northrop Grumman. The programme is intended to add Meteor to the air-to-air weapon options available to British and Italian F-35 operators.