DOHA, ($1=3.64 Qatari Riyals) – According to information provided by Jane’s, Qatar is the first country in the Middle East to receive from the French company MBDA air-to-range missiles [BVRAAM] Meteor, BulgarianMilitary.com has learned, citing a publication in Jane’s.
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According to the renowned publication, in addition to air-to-air missiles, Qatar has acquired NHI Industries NH90 helicopters, which were recently presented at a military parade in the country. The Meteor rocket, as Jane’s writes, was spotted on the Qatari fighter plane Dassault Rafale in a photo published by the Ministry of Defense on December 18.
BulgarianMilitary.com reminds you that Qatar has already acquired 23 Rafale fighter jets, and it remains to acquire the last of the order for 24 fighters. They are all armed with a range of weapons from French manufacturers, such as the anti-ship MBDA AM39 Exocet Block II, the cruise missile MBDA SCALP EG, AASM medium-range air-to-ground, MICA IR air-to-air missile, and the Meteor. Jane’s recalled that in addition to Rafale, Qatar also has Eurofighter Typhoons and they are also equipped with Meteor air-to-air missiles.
MBDA Meteor on KF-21 Boramae fighter as well
As we reported in March this year, MBDA has been awarded a contract from Korea Aerospace Industries [KAI] to integrate the Meteor beyond visual range air-to-air missile onto the KF-X future Korean fighter aircraft now known as KF-21 Boramae.
The contract includes integration support to KAI, transfer of know-how, and manufacture of test equipment for the KF-21 Boramae integration and trials campaign.
Meteor is the world’s most advanced air-to-air missile. It has a unique ramjet propulsion system that allows it to fly further and faster than any other air-to-air missile – allowing it to defeat maneuvering targets even at extreme ranges.
Éric Béranger, CEO of MBDA, said in 2019: “We’re very pleased to mark this next and important step in our partnership with KAI and the Korean Defence Acquisition Program Administration. South Korea is a strategic market for MBDA, and we’re proud that Meteor will be providing KF-21 Boramae with the world’s most powerful air-to-air capability.”
More about MBDA Meteor
Meteor is the next generation of Beyond Visual Range Air-to-Air Missile (BVRAAM) system designed to revolutionize air-to-air combat in the 21st Century. The weapon brings together six nations with a common need to defeat the threats of today as well as the future emerging ones.
Guided by an advanced active radar seeker, Meteor provides the all-weather capability to engage a wide variety of targets from agile fast jets to small Unmanned Aerial Vehicles and cruise missiles. It is designed to meet the most stringent of requirements and is capable of operating in the most severe of clutter and countermeasure environments.
The weapon is also equipped with data link communication. Aimed at meeting the needs of a network-centric environment, Meteor can be operated using third-party data, enabling the Meteor user – the pilot – to have the most flexible weapon system.
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