UK DIP 2026: Meteor to be replaced without MLU, low-cost missile introduction was sped up

A Luftwaffe Eurofighter EF-2000 and MBDA Meteor BVRAAM missile at the ILA Berlin Airshow 2026. (Janes/Gareth Jennings)

Further details have emerged around decisions in the UK government's Defence Investment Plan, published on 30 June 2026.

The UK will maintain its Meteor air-to-air missiles only up to their mid-life upgrade (MLU) point, and instead of receiving it, they will be replaced by the Future Beyond Visual Range Air-to-Air Missile (F-BVRAAM), part of the Future Air Superiority Effectors programme (FASE), a defence source told Janes on 7 July.

While not mentioned in the 2026 Defence Investment Plan (DIP), on 24 September 2025 UK Minister for Defence Readiness and Industry, Luke Pollard, said in a written parliamentary answer that “The Future Air Superiority Effectors [FASE] programme is currently in pre-concept phase, and work is actively underway to establish a concept phase.”

The Meteor decision was not a disinvestment in capability, but a change of focus for the future, the defence source said, adding that FASE is not for development of a specific missile, but for a family of complementary weapons to meet future threats. However, they confirmed that F-BVRAAM is one aspect of FASE.

Meteor is an all-aspect, all-weather, ramjet‐powered BVRAAM developed by a pan‐European industrial effort headed by MBDA, developed to replace existing BVRAAMs, such as the AIM‐120 AMRAAM. As of 2024, the UK and the five partner countries of France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and Sweden were assessing a potential MLU.

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