MBDA Begins Air-to-Air Missile Delivery for UK’s F-35 Fleet

MBDA has begun deliveries of its Advanced Short Range Air-to-Air Missiles to the U.K. military for integration with the country’s fleet of Lockheed Martin-built F-35B Lightning II aircraft.

The U.K. defense ministry will use ASRAAMs in air-launched fire tests and flight trials necessary to achieve initial operating capability for the fighter jets of the country’s air and naval forces, MBDA said Monday.

Weapon firing tests against targets, environmental data collection, weapon integration and other tests will be conducted this year at Edwards Air Force Base in California and Naval Air Station Patuxent River in Maryland.

The company noted that it delivered last month the first missile to the U.S. in partnership with BAE Systems.

MBDA received a potential eight-year, $462.2 million contract in September 2015 to build a new ASRAAM variant for the U.K. military.