The first phase of the Operational Testing and Evaluation (OT&E) campaign of the Beyond Visual Range Air to Air Missile (BVRAAM) Meteor and the Advanced Medium Range Air to Air Missile (AMRAAM), conducted by the Italian Air Force as part of the planned operational verification activities of the F-2000A weapon system with the aim of evaluating different types of armament, took place in recent weeks at the Hebrides Range range in the United Kingdom. sensors and capacitive development software, necessary for the performance of the multiple types of missions that the aircraft is called upon to carry out in the Armed Forces.
Following the full operation of a new configuration that allows the Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft to be equipped with the Meteor missile (Phase 2 of Enhancement bravo – P2Eb), thanks to this first launch campaign it was possible to verify the behavior of the armament in conditions representative of possible operational scenarios, against real targets remotely guided from the ground.
This first phase of testing, which will be followed by a second at the end of 2024, was coordinated by the 4th Department of the Air Force General Staff and conducted with the support of a joint team – in technical jargon “Typhoon Operational Evaluation Team (TOET)” – composed of pilots and engineers from the Experimental Flight Department, Weapons Instructors from the Typhoon Operational Groups and Mission Data Specialists from ReSTOGE, assisted by support personnel from all F-2000A Departments.
A synergy at all levels – from pilots to engineers, to maintenance technicians – which allowed an effective and safe execution of the activity. The team conducted the tests in flight and on the ground, using for the first time a telemetry version of the missile called Telemetric Operational Missile (TOM) Meteor, which made it possible to record all the flight parameters, essential to verify the real behavior of the missile. In addition, as a secondary objective, launch activities of the AMRAAM missile were carried out, to evaluate the armament in conditions of increasing difficulty.
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