Spanish defense company Indra has announced the development of a demonstrator of an upgraded version of the Meteor air-to-air missile, capable of engaging targets at distances of up to 200 km. The upgrade focuses on the data link between the missile and the launching aircraft, increasing both the missile’s control range and its resilience against electronic warfare (EW) systems.
Indra's activity in this area is linked to the fact that the Spanish company is responsible for around 20% of the missile's electronics and manufactures six of its subsystems. The Spanish Air Force currently operates the Meteor missile on its Eurofighter aircraft.
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The development has already been presented to the pan-European MBDA consortium, the prime contractor and manufacturer of the Meteor missile, as well as to the missile's international project office. The upgrade has received approval at the preliminary design stage, allowing Indra to proceed with work on integrating this solution.
From the Defense Express perspective, it is important to clarify that the common perception of modern air-to-air missiles as purely "fire-and-forget" weapons is not entirely accurate, even when a missile is equipped with its own active radar seeker, as is the case with the Meteor or the U.S.-made AIM-120 AMRAAM produced by Raytheon.
The reason is that such missiles can be launched far beyond the effective range of their relatively small and low-power onboard radar seekers, which typically acquire targets at distances of only several tens of kilometers. By contrast, the Meteor has a launch range of up to 200 km.
This creates the need to guide the missile in flight and continuously transmit updated information about the target and the predicted intercept point. This is crucial because the target may change its course, altitude, or speed, ending up far from the intercept point calculated at the moment of launch.
To achieve this, fighters typically use the side lobes of their onboard radar antenna pattern. In practical terms, this means the launching aircraft must continue flying in the general direction of the target for some time while transmitting updated intercept data to the missile. Naturally, this radio link can be jammed, which could prevent the missile from acquiring its target. This is precisely why Indra is working to extend the range and improve the resilience of this data link.
In this context, another key advantage of the Meteor becomes especially important: its very high speed, enabled by a solid-fuel ramjet engine. According to the company, the missile covers the first 100 km to the target in just 1.5 minutes. As a result, the time during which the launching aircraft must guide the missile before the target is acquired by the missile’s own seeker is relatively short.
These upgrades are also of particular significance for Ukraine. The Ukrainian Air Force expects to receive its first Meteor missiles in 2026 together with used Swedish Gripen C/D fighters. While it is unlikely that Indra will be able to finalize the new system and launch serial production within such a tight timeframe, expanding the missile's capabilities remains highly important. This is because the Meteor's future carriers, the Gripen E/F and Rafale, are expected to become the backbone of Ukraine's Air Force, under the announced plans to acquire 150 Gripens and 100 Rafales.
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