some things about the Meteor:
It does appear to loft
Booster seems to burn for around 2 seconds
Booster is not smoke-less
Ramjet is smoke-less
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Cool!
So about those Brimstones and AMRAAMs;
The Bundestag is going to be voting on an acquisition of a crap ton of AIM-120C-8s in Q1 2024. This is the sale that the US agreed to in July of last year. 969 AIM-120C-8s. I dont think that these are going to be for the 35 F-35s as the F-35 package includes the same missiles anyways. So the only remaining option is for these to be fitted to Eurofighters.
Spoiler
Next, the Bundestag is also going to be voting on an acquisition of 274 Brimstone missiles(likely Brimstone III) in Q2 2024 for Eurofighter.
Spoiler
oh yeah and P4E i guess…
Meteors are also getting a mid life upgrade, whatever that means.
Ah and ESCAN testing
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The only confirmed info so far is AESA seeker, there’s probably other changes coming but yeah
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thats good though. it was missing that
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On the topic of Meteor, looks like integration is slipping until the end of the decade despite MBDA having had its F-35 compatible variant ready for a good while. This is conveniently several years after the AIM-260 is supposed to debut and also enough time for them to ramp up production.
I’m betting either AIM-260 gets integrated earlier or simultaneously with Meteor.
Hopefully the fact that the countries that produced the Meteor are also invested in Meteor MLU will dissuade themselves from AIM-260.
I think any current Meteor user will choose Meteor but countries like Finland, Denmark, Norway, Poland etc who might have chosen to buy Meteor (as it was originally slated to be integrated by the UK in 2020 before the US pulled the source code stunt and later 2025), now will buy AIM-260 as it will probably be cheaper and they will be lobbied by the US.
If it wasn’t for the political shit-show it would’ve induced I wouldn’t be surprised if the UK and Italy integrated it ourselves by now.
WIth 3 major countries that also hold stake in MBDA, I imagine the integration will be expedited whether Locksneed-Moonin likes it or not
We can’t expedite it that’s the issue. MBDA has done their part, they made the missile to fit in an F-35 bay, they gave the code over, they have provided everything they could do on their half. If the previous MBDA ASRAAM is anything to go off it won’t make a difference, that can only be carried externally despite being smaller than AMRAAM and older than AIM-9X yet somehow 1 is internal and 1 isn’t.
Originally the UK was supposed to be able to modify, modernise and a load of other ‘M’ words the F-35, then the US pulled a stunt, LM changed the source code and refused to hand it over and now things like Meteor and Brimstone integration which were planned to be done in the UK so LM could work on the other things, now can only be done at that F-35 airbase in the US…
MBDA could have easily done it by now but as we don’t officially have access or approval to modify the source code, we can’t integrate it.
Again, they likely can do it without the cocaine fiends over at LM, its just they want to retain good terms with the contractors who are the only ones allowed to fix the F-35 (US procurement system moment, they let LM keep ALL of the intellectual and repair rights)
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I suspect the US would either kick off, sanction, or cancel the UK’s order like they did when Turkey bought S-400. Then the UK at least would have to somehow come up with a new 5th gen out of thin air with an already crippled military budget.
I see what you mean, they can easily do it they just can’t do it and retain any orders or previous advantages.
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Nah they can’t do that as the unlike turkey Britain actually helped make the the f35 the US would have to deal with us
You underestimate the power of the US military industrial complex and their lobbying ability.
They’d say pack your bags and get fucked and we’d fold.
Although we helped design F-35 and have Tempest progressing smoothly and have previous stealth studies and stealth developments, we do not have the money as of current to develop something new and current generation within even a 10 year timeframe.
We already have the planes all we are doing is trying to ger meteor working on them
We have like 24 out of an original order of 48 and a projected order of at least 90. That’s not even enough to have 1 carrier in a standard configuration of 36 F-35 and 12 merlin.
But anyway this isn’t on topic anymore.
Wasnt Lockheed-Martin or some other US company actively being found to be interfering with the integration of Meteor in the F-35, leading to some tensions about the german acquisition?
The US really needs to stop their anti-competitive tendencies, it actively harms all its allies along with itself and the government really needs to get a hand on that issue.
Not sure but I remember Ben Wallace saying he wouldn’t authorise the acquisition of more F-35B’s unless they stopped putting European missiles to the bottom of the pile. It seems they waited until after he retired from politics to do just that, if we still had him in office then our F-35 purchase would be looking shaky.
Same applies for the Brimstone acquisition to go onto the new Apache’s which seems to have Boeing refusing to integrate it and only the JAGM will be integrated.
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Gotta hate the US’ absurdly corrupt government and flagrant anti-competition habits.
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what an a** who wants to just get rid of their expensive missiles just so they could buy the American one when ever its ready