Britain and France to Develop New Generation Air-to-Air Missile

Britain and France will develop a new generation of air-to-air missiles to replace the existing Meteor.

This is reported by the UK Defence Journal.

The new missile will embody the entire technological potential of both countries, and its use will be possible both on sixth-generation aircraft and on existing combat aircraft of both countries.

The exact technical characteristics of the missile have not yet been disclosed, but it is said that it should’ve hit targets beyond line of sight, not inferior in effectiveness to the current Meteor missile.

The announced development is part of the new Entente Industrielle program, which focuses on strengthening NATO’s advantage in high-tech air combat.

It is also planned to carry out some work within the framework of the joint Integrated Portfolio Management Approach to Weapon. Its tasks will include coordinating the development of a new air-to-air missile, as well as modernizing the existing Meteor.

It is worth noting that Meteor is a unique air-to-air radar missile due to the use of a direct-flow air-jet engine with adjustable air supply, which allows changing engine modes during flight.

In parallel, work is underway to improve the homing head. Since the joint program between the UK and Japan on the JNAAM missile ended without results, a new active homing head is being developed in Germany.

It is expected that the new GSN will be similar to the one offered by Mitsubishi: with an active phased array antenna, which provides high protection against enemy electronic warfare and increases the efficiency of detecting low-altitude and small-sized targets.

It should be noted that in addition to European countries that have integrated the Meteor missile into their own fighters, such as Typhoon and Rafale, South Korea has also shown great interest, making Meteor the main radar missile of the new KF-21 fighter jet.

Earlier, Militarnyi reported that in March 2023, South Korea had conducted the first weapons tests on mock-ups of the KF-21 fighter jet.

The second KF-21 mock-up launched a Meteor air-to-air guided missile from MBDA.