MBDA’s Meteor beyond-visual-range air-to-air missile has moved a step closer to commencing flight trials with the Lockheed Martin F-35A, following a recent integration test activity.

Staged at Edwards AFB in California, the series of ground vibration testing and fit checks “validated key hardware responses between the fifth-generation fighter and missile”, according to an update from Lockheed, MBDA and the F-35 Joint Program Office.

The work validated that the European-produced missile “can be safely stowed and deployed from the F-35A’s internal weapons bay, preserving the aircraft’s valuable stealth profile”, the parties say.

“One ground test remains before clearance to start flight testing,” they add.

The ramjet-powered Meteor has previously undergone inert flight trials with the short take-off and vertical landing F-35B for the UK, using a US Marine Corps test asset.

The schedule for adding the Meteor to F-35Bs operated by the UK Royal Air Force and Royal Navy has drifted from an original plan of December 2024 to the early 2030s, with the activity having slipped into the F-35 programme’s Block 4 package of weapon upgrades.

Italy is sponsoring integration work for the missile’s carriage by the conventional take-off and landing F-35A.

The 3.7m (12ft 1in)-long, 190kg (418lb) weapon features a cropped fin modification to allow its internal carriage by the US-produced stealth fighter.

With a cited range of 110nm (200km), the Meteor is already in frontline use on the Dassault Aviation Rafale, Eurofighter Typhoon and Saab Gripen, and will also arm Seoul’s in-development Korea Aerospace Industries KF-21.