F-35B Stealth Fighter Releases Meteor Long-Range Missile From Its Internal Bay for the First Time

An F-35B Lightning II released an inert MBDA Meteor beyond-visual-range air-to-air missile from its internal weapons bay for the first time on October 7, 2026, at Naval Air Station Patuxent River in Maryland. A Royal Navy test pilot flew the sortie, and the round cleared the bay with its motor and control surfaces inactive, allowing engineers to assess aerodynamic separation and refine their predictive models. The release opens a series of separation trials leading to live firings as the United Kingdom and Italy work to integrate Meteor on their F-35 fleets.