“As I stand here today, I’m a very happy air force chief of staff!” Those were the words of Major General Mats Helgesson, chief of the Swedish air force, at an event held yesterday to formally welcome the MBDA Meteor long-range air-to-air missile into air force service with the Saab Gripen. “Together with the Iris-T heat-seeking missile we have the best air-to-air weaponry you can find anywhere in the world.”
MBDA leads a six-nation (France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Sweden, UK) industrial partnership that has developed the Meteor to arm the Dassault Rafale, Eurofighter Typhoon and Saab Gripen, with integration planned for the Lockheed Martin F-35. While Rafale and Typhoon wait to receive the “game-changing” weapon, Sweden’s air force has become the first to introduce it to service. The latest MS20 software version for the Gripen, released in late April and now implemented across the fleet, provides for a full integration of the missile, allowing initial operating capability to be declared.
Sweden joined the Meteor program in 2001, and it was a Gripen platform that performed the first test firing on May 9, 2006. Since then the type performed six more firings as part of the contractor tests, before Sweden began an operational evaluation test campaign in 2010 that ultimately led to service entry.
With IOC achieved, the Swedish air force is now training with the Meteor and learning its potential. “The organization needs to understand the missile and how to use it,” explained Helgesson. Operational test and evaluation is focusing on methods to employ the weapon as its considerably extended range and much larger NEZ (no-escape zone)—when compared with the AMRAAM—have significantly altered the parameters of aerial engagements.
Made possible by the Meteor’s throttleable ramjet propulsion, combined with its advanced seeker and two-way datalink, this engagement envelope expansion requires a new set of tactics. While the current MS20 upgrade incorporates some enhancements for the mechanically scanned radar of the Gripen C/D, the “e-scan” radar of the yet-to-fly Gripen E will permit even greater exploitation of the Meteor’s capabilities.
