Meteor vs. AMRAAM... Minor upgrade or paradigm shift?
MBDA Meteor AIM-120C-5 AMRAAM European nations have been quick to embrace the MBDA Meteor as their preferred BVR A2A missile. Integration testing is underway for the Eurofighter Typhoon and already completed for the Saab Gripen . The Rafale is planned to provisions to carry two Meteors by 2018 . American fighter manufactures do not seem to be as enthusiastic, however. There appears to be no plans as of yet to integrate the Meteor with the F-15, F-16, or F/A-18. There has been talk about a variant of the Meteor "clipped" to fit inside a F-35's weapon bay , but no funding has been approved for this project thus far. For the time being, the USAF, USN, USMC, as well as the RCAF will be sticking with the AIM-120 AMRAAM (advance medium range air to air missile). The latest version, the AIM-120D, will be the "default" air-to-air weapon for the F-35 Lightning II . So what is the difference? Is the Meteor really that much better than ...