BAE Systems completes Meteor firings for Typhoon P2E upgrade

[Zarvan]

BAE Systems has successfully completed guided firing trials of the Meteor Beyond-Visual-Range Air-to-Air missile launched from a Eurofighter Typhoon combat aircraft, it announced on 14 September. Source: BAE Systems
BAE Systems has successfully completed guided firing trials of the MBDA Meteor beyond-visual-range air-to-air missile (BVRAAM) launched from a Eurofighter Typhoon combat aircraft, IHS Jane's was told on 14 September.

During the trials, which took place at the UK Ministry of Defence's (MoD's) Hebrides range, aircraft IPA6 launched Meteor missiles against real air targets in pre-planned scenarios as part of the wider Typhoon Phase 2 Enhancements (P2E) flight test campaign. According to BAE Systems test pilot Nat Makepeace, the missile separated cleanly and guided successfully towards its target while maintaining a data link with the aircraft.

The flight trials were conducted by BAE Systems with support from QinetiQ, MBDA, and Selex, and form part of a NATO Eurofighter and Tornado Management Agency (NETMA) contract to fully integrate the Meteor missile onto Typhoon by the end of 2016.

This Meteor firing follows earlier ones conducted by IPA1 in December 2014. Those first firings were carried out to test the missile itself, while this latest round of tests was concerned with integrating the weapon onto the latest standard Typhoon and testing the missile's interaction with the radar.

Speaking to IHS Jane's in July, BAE Systems said that the Meteor firings were the first phase of a 150-flight trial campaign for the P2E capability enhancement across the international test fleet. In the coming weeks, the single-seat IPA6 aircraft will be joined in the campaign by a twin-seat Typhoon that BAE Systems has loaned back from the MoD (BT017), as well as by aircraft provided by the other Eurofighter consortium nations of Germany, Italy, and Spain.

P2E flights are expected to run through to the end of the year, and will include trials of the MBDA Storm Shadow cruise missile (including firings in the United Kingdom by Italian aircraft), and testing of new additional cockpit interface enhancements and other general P2E development work.

Assuming that the test campaign is successful, the P2E configuration should be ready for fielding before the end of 2017.

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BAE Systems completes Meteor firings for Typhoon P2E upgrade - IHS Jane's 360