The Perfect Soldier: Special Operations, Commandos, and the Future of Us Warfare by James F. Dunnigan
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Dirty Little Secrets
Meteor Makes Mach 4
by James Dunnigan
July 27, 2006
Discussion Board on this DLS topic
The Meteor high speed (ramjet) air-to-air
missile passed, on its second try, a flight test. Meteor is a long
range (over 100 kilometers) radar guided missile being developed by a
European consortium (Britain, Germany, Italy, Spain, France and
Sweden). It's the first such missile to use ramjet technology. This
enables the missile to basically fly at the same speed as a rifle
bullet (about one kilometers a second, or about Mach 4). Ramjet
technology is tricky to handle, which is why no one else has gotten it
to work for an air-to-air missile (although the Russians and Chinese
are considering it). Meteor has been in development for six years
already, and another six are believed needed before the first
production models can be shipped to combat units. The Meteor is too
large (at 11.5 feet long and 450 pounds) for the internal bay of the
F-22, but the F-35 can handle it, as can other U.S. aircraft that carry
missiles externally. Several European nations are buying the F-35. Even
the U.S. may end up getting Meteor, rather than spending billions to
develop an American ramjet missile.
The speed advantage of Meteor is considerable, as it makes it more
difficult to evade (assuming the target knows it is coming). The range
of Meteor is about 50 percent greater than the current top-of-the-line
air-to-air missile (the U.S. AMRAAM, at 80 kilometers). American firms
are supplying some of the components, and U.S. participation in the may
increase before Meteror enters service.
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