Eurofighter Typhoon IPA2 Firing a Meteor Missile
Eurofighter has conducted trials of the Storm Shadow missile and Meteor Beyond Visual Range Air-to-Air missile as part of the improvements to enhance swing-role capability of its Typhoon combat jet.
It has been confirmed that a new operational release of the Storm Shadow missile was carried out in the UK Ministry of Defence’s Hebrides range in Scotland. The release - from the Italian Instrumented Production Aircraft (IPA) 2 - is part of work conducted to expand the safe weapon trajectory data envelope of the missile. The test, which was led by Finmeccanica – Aircraft Division, with the support of Eurofighter, BAE Systems, Airbus Defence and Space, and MBDA, follows the completion of ground trials on the weapon and a successful release of Storm Shadow in November 2015, Eurofighter said in a statement Friday.
Storm Shadow Missile
It was followed by another firing of a Meteor Beyond Visual Range Air-to-Air missile using UK Typhoon aircraft IPA6, also at the Hebrides range. Led by BAE Systems with support from MBDA, Selex, QinetiQ and UK Ministry of Defence (MOD) and the Eurofighter teams. The firing follows trials held in late 2015 which saw the Typhoon aircraft conduct guided Meteor firings against real air targets in pre-planned scenarios.
The Storm Shadow and Meteor firings are part of the flight test campaign for the Phase 2 Enhancement (P2E) program which will introduce a range of new and improved long range attack capabilities to Typhoon.
Commenting on the Storm Shadow tests, Enrico Scarabotto, the Italian Chief Test pilot who flew the IPA2, said: “The integration of the weapon further enhances Typhoon’s potent multi-role and swing-role capabilities, adding new capability to strike in day or night, in all-weather conditions.