The wraps have come off the latest design evolution of Europe's
six-nation Meteor beyond visual range air-to-air missile. The
team behind the next-generation long-range weapon program-MBDA
Missile Systems and Saab Bofors Dynamics-has made a fundamental
change to the way the Meteor flies. While not immediately obvious
to all, it will have a profound effect on how the missile functions.
The new Meteor airframe configuration is a wingless missile that
is smoother and more advanced than all the mockup hardware seen
to date. MBDA quietly admits that the mid-section wing surfaces
found on the 'original' design were included to reassure conservative
onlookers that the weapon's design was safe and workable. However,
MBDA already understood that the wingless body lift concept pioneered
and proven by the ASRAAM would bring huge benefits to the Meteor
and reinforce its credentials as a step change weapon.
As a result, the unnecessary control surfaces are gone from the
Meteor while its tail fins have become slightly smaller. Close
observers will see that the ramjet inlet housing under the main
missile body is now more streamlined and tapers upwards at the
rear. The Meteor will still use conventional bank-to-turn flight
in its mid-course phase. In the terminal phase its new body-lift
design and sophisticated flight control systems will allow almost
instantaneous skid-to-turn performance for the end game.
The evolution of the missile's design is a direct result of the
Preliminary Design Review (PDR) that followed the much-delayed
signature of the development contract at the end of last year.
The 1.86 billion-euro fixed-price prime contract for Meteor was
signed in December 2002 by the UK's Defence Procurement Agency
on behalf of the governments of France, Germany, Italy, Spain,
Sweden and the UK.
With the approval of the PDR now in hand, MBDA is cutting metal
for a full-scale model in readiness for a missile/aircraft fit
trial, together with a sub-scale model for aerodynamic wind-tunnel
tests scheduled for this autumn. Another important milestone will
come in the second half of 2004, with the test firing of the missile's
ramjet propulsion system while in a wind-tunnel simulated flight
environment.
The Meteor is scheduled for its first airborne firing in mid-2005.
This will be conducted over the Vidsel range in northern Sweden
by a Swedish Gripen fighter. The Gripen is going to play a crucial
part in the Meteor test schedule, despite the weight given on
paper to the Eurofighter Typhoon or Dassault Rafale. While MBDA
says that the level of launch aircraft capability is not of great
importance, the Gripen will be by far the most operationally mature
of the proposed Meteor platforms. This must surely have some relevance
to what is a vital payment milestone and potential cancellation
point for the program.
MBDA CEO Marwan Lahoud describes the Meteor as "a leap ahead
from all other air-to-air systems. It is not just a proportionate
change." He also says it is vital for his company to share
technology between its missile programs, and confirms that the
possibility clearly exists to develop Meteor into an air-launched
anti-radiation or even a surface-to-air missile system.
