{"id":1205155,"date":"2026-05-25T13:57:55","date_gmt":"2026-05-25T11:57:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/spear-3-missile-f-35b-first-flight-mbda-uk-2026\/"},"modified":"2026-05-25T13:58:28","modified_gmt":"2026-05-25T11:58:28","slug":"spear-3-missile-f-35b-first-flight-mbda-uk-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/spear-3-missile-f-35b-first-flight-mbda-uk-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"A British Weapon Finally Flies Inside an F-35B"},"content":{"rendered":"<style>.et_pb_title_container h1.entry-title { padding-top: 40px !important; }<\/style>\n\n<p>For more than a decade, the UK&#8217;s F-35B Lightning II programme has been chasing a single technical milestone that politicians, MPs, and the Royal Air Force itself have all asked about repeatedly: when will the F-35B be able to actually fire a British weapon. The Lightning was sold to the British public on the promise of a flexible, multi-role strike fighter. For most of its first decade in RAF service, the only weapons the aircraft could carry \u2014 within its internal stealth bays \u2014 were American ones. That changed earlier this year at NAS Patuxent River, Maryland, where a Royal Navy lieutenant commander took an F-35B into the air with four MBDA SPEAR 3 miniature cruise missiles tucked into a single weapons bay. The announcement, held back until 21 May 2026, marks the first ever flight of a British weapon on board the F-35.<\/p>\n\n\n<div style=\"background:#f5f7fa;padding:18px 22px;margin:24px 0;border-radius:8px;border:1px solid #e0e6ed\"><p style=\"margin:0 0 8px;font-weight:700;color:#333;font-size:15px;letter-spacing:0.5px;text-transform:uppercase\">Quick Facts<\/p><table style=\"width:100%;border-collapse:collapse;font-size:15px;margin:0\"><tr><td style=\"padding:6px 12px 6px 0;font-weight:600;color:#5C91FF;white-space:nowrap\">Weapon<\/td><td style=\"padding:6px 0\">MBDA SPEAR 3 \u2014 100 kg-class miniature cruise missile<\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"padding:6px 12px 6px 0;font-weight:600;color:#5C91FF;white-space:nowrap\">Range<\/td><td style=\"padding:6px 0\">> 140 km<\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"padding:6px 12px 6px 0;font-weight:600;color:#5C91FF;white-space:nowrap\">First flight on F-35B<\/td><td style=\"padding:6px 0\">January 2026, NAS Patuxent River, Maryland<\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"padding:6px 12px 6px 0;font-weight:600;color:#5C91FF;white-space:nowrap\">Test pilot<\/td><td style=\"padding:6px 0\">Lt Cdr Nick Baker, Royal Navy, UK Air &#038; Space Warfare Centre<\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"padding:6px 12px 6px 0;font-weight:600;color:#5C91FF;white-space:nowrap\">Loadout<\/td><td style=\"padding:6px 0\">4 SPEAR 3 in one weapons bay (inert munitions)<\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"padding:6px 12px 6px 0;font-weight:600;color:#5C91FF;white-space:nowrap\">Full capacity per aircraft<\/td><td style=\"padding:6px 0\">Up to 8 SPEAR 3 internally \u2014 all stealth-compatible<\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"padding:6px 12px 6px 0;font-weight:600;color:#5C91FF;white-space:nowrap\">Operational capability target<\/td><td style=\"padding:6px 0\">Early 2030s<\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"padding:6px 12px 6px 0;font-weight:600;color:#5C91FF;white-space:nowrap\">Programme cost<\/td><td style=\"padding:6px 0\">\u00a31.5 billion (UK funded development)<\/td><\/tr><\/table><\/div>\n\n\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">A British weapon on a British F-35<\/h2>\n\n<p>The British F-35 Lightning fleet \u2014 48 aircraft currently in service with the RAF and Royal Navy, with a further order of 27 placed in 2025 to reach an eventual fleet of around 138 \u2014 has, until now, depended entirely on American-supplied munitions. AIM-120 AMRAAMs for air-to-air. Paveway IV laser-guided bombs for ground attack. The lack of a British weapon in the internal bays has been a strategic vulnerability that the Royal Navy and RAF have been repeatedly criticised for in defence-committee hearings.<\/p>\n\n<p>SPEAR 3 changes that. The weapon is the smallest cruise missile of its class \u2014 100 kg in launch weight, 1.8 metres long \u2014 and was designed from the outset to fit four-deep in a single F-35 weapons bay. With both bays loaded, the F-35B can carry eight SPEAR 3 missiles internally, with no compromise to its stealth signature. Each missile has a turbojet engine, a range exceeding 140 km, and a multi-mode seeker capable of finding moving targets in poor weather. The data link allows in-flight retargeting and salvo coordination across multiple missiles \u2014 a feature MBDA calls Orchestrike.<\/p>\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\" style=\"margin:0 0 24px\"><img data-opt-id=1395153477  fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\/cb:u-Aa.be16\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/ig:avif\/https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/05\/f-35b-lightning-ii-spear-3-internal-bay.jpg\" alt=\"F-35B Lightning II\" style=\"max-width:100%;height:auto;border-radius:6px\"><figcaption style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;margin-top:6px;font-style:italic\">A US Marine Corps F-35B Lightning II. The aircraft used for the SPEAR 3 test was a USMC airframe at NAS Patuxent River \u2014 the UK does not yet have F-35B test articles able to support new weapons integration work. <em>USMC photo<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">The unsung British test pilot<\/h2>\n\n<p>The pilot for the flight was Lieutenant Commander Nick Baker of the Royal Navy, currently serving with the UK Air &#038; Space Warfare Centre. Baker is best known in aviation circles as the first British pilot to land an F-35B on board a Japanese warship \u2014 the JS <em>Kaga<\/em>, in October 2024 \u2014 during an integrated Indo-Pacific deployment. The SPEAR 3 sortie was conducted from NAS Patuxent River in Maryland, where the F-35 Integrated Test Force operates the only fully-instrumented F-35B test articles capable of supporting weapons integration.<\/p>\n\n\n<div style=\"background:#f8f9fa;border-left:4px solid #1565c0;padding:20px 22px;margin:18px 0 24px;border-radius:0 8px 8px 0;font-size:16px;line-height:1.7;display:flex;gap:20px;align-items:flex-start\"><div><em>&ldquo;The flight handling was as predicted from the wind-tunnel and simulation work. The SPEAR 3 separation envelope is fully within the aircraft&#8217;s flight envelope, and the carriage characteristics are clean. This is the start of a long integration campaign \u2014 but it is the moment the British weapon set finally meets the British F-35.&rdquo;<\/em><div style=\"margin-top:10px;font-size:14px;color:#555\"><strong>Lt Cdr Nick Baker<\/strong> &mdash; Royal Navy, UK Air &#038; Space Warfare Centre<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">Why it has taken so long<\/h2>\n\n<p>The SPEAR 3 programme was launched by the UK Ministry of Defence in 2010. Sixteen years later, it has finally completed its first flight on its primary platform. The delay has been the subject of furious internal debate at MoD Main Building: was the slip due to MBDA, due to Lockheed Martin&#8217;s F-35 Joint Program Office, due to the UK Treasury&#8217;s annual budget cycles, or simply due to the staggering complexity of integrating a new weapon into the F-35&#8217;s ALIS \/ ODIN logistics and maintenance backbone?<\/p>\n\n<p>The answer is &#8220;all of the above.&#8221; Every new weapon integration on the F-35 has to be funded and approved separately, has to be coded into the aircraft&#8217;s flight control software in close coordination with Lockheed, has to be tested with both inert and live rounds at Edwards and Patuxent River, and has to be certified for safe carriage and release before it can enter operational service. SPEAR 3 is now eight to ten years away from operational capability \u2014 that target of &#8220;early 2030s&#8221; is not a euphemism. It is, by F-35 weapons integration standards, normal.<\/p>\n\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">What the British F-35 fleet can now do<\/h2>\n\n<p>By the early 2030s, when SPEAR 3 reaches initial operating capability on the RAF and Royal Navy Lightning fleets, each F-35B will be able to launch eight independent precision cruise missiles in a single sortie, each with a 140 km stand-off range and the ability to coordinate target prosecution among themselves. A flight of four F-35Bs, returning from a single sortie, will have 32 cruise missiles at their disposal. The strike geometry against, for example, a Russian missile battery in Kaliningrad or a Chinese surface group in the South China Sea changes fundamentally with that arithmetic. The Royal Navy and RAF can now plausibly say that an F-35B at sea or operating from a forward base can put a credible deep-strike capability on station \u2014 without requiring American weapons, American clearances, or American consent.<\/p>\n\n<p>The same architecture that supports SPEAR 3 can be extended to other British weapons in development: SPEAR-EW (an electronic warfare variant), Storm Shadow \/ SCALP-EG (long-range cruise missile, planned for external carriage on F-35), and the still-classified Project Constellation deep-strike weapon. The January 2026 SPEAR 3 sortie at Patuxent River is the proof of concept that the F-35 software stack is finally British-weapon-compatible. That alone makes it one of the more strategically significant flights of the year.<\/p>\n\n\n<div style=\"margin:24px 0\"><div style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:56.25%;height:0;overflow:hidden;border-radius:8px\"><iframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/LYxtiWhSFww\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;border:0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div><p style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;margin-top:6px;font-style:italic\">RAF F-35B Lightning and HMS Queen Elizabeth on Exercise Atlantic Trident \u2014 Royal Navy and Royal Air Force F-35Bs of 617 (Dambusters) Squadron operating from the British carrier strike group.<\/p><\/div>\n\n\n<p><em>Sources: The Aviationist; UK Defence Journal; FlightGlobal; Breaking Defense; Janes Defence; Aviation Week; MBDA UK; Royal Air Force public releases.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n<div style=\"background:#f0f4ff;border-left:4px solid #5C91FF;padding:16px 20px;margin:32px 0 8px;border-radius:0 8px 8px 0\">\n<p style=\"margin:0 0 8px;font-weight:600;color:#333\">Related Posts<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/israel-signs-34m-deal-to-extend-f-35i-range\/\">Israel Signs $34M Deal to Extend F-35I Range<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sixteen years after MBDA started developing it, the SPEAR 3 has finally flown on board an F-35B. The first British weapon ever carried inside the Lightning.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":1205041,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_yoast_wpseo_focuskw":"","_yoast_wpseo_title":"SPEAR 3 Flies on F-35B: A British Weapon Finally Inside the Lightning","_yoast_wpseo_metadesc":"After 16 years of development, MBDA's SPEAR 3 has flown for the first time on an F-35B. Four missiles per bay, eight per aircraft, all stealth-compatible.","_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","editor_notices":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[664,670],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1205155","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-military-aviation","category-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>SPEAR 3 Flies on F-35B: A British Weapon Finally Inside the Lightning<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"After 16 years of development, MBDA&#039;s SPEAR 3 has flown for the first time on an F-35B. Four missiles per bay, eight per aircraft, all stealth-compatible.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/spear-3-missile-f-35b-first-flight-mbda-uk-2026\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"SPEAR 3 Flies on F-35B: A British Weapon Finally Inside the Lightning\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"After 16 years of development, MBDA&#039;s SPEAR 3 has flown for the first time on an F-35B. Four missiles per bay, eight per aircraft, all stealth-compatible.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/spear-3-missile-f-35b-first-flight-mbda-uk-2026\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"MiGFlug.com Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-05-25T11:57:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-05-25T11:58:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\/cb:u-Aa.be16\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/ig:avif\/https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/05\/f-35b-lightning-ii-spear-3-internal-bay.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"914\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Fortun\u00e9 Leroy\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Fortun\u00e9 Leroy\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/jetflights\\\/spear-3-missile-f-35b-first-flight-mbda-uk-2026\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/jetflights\\\/spear-3-missile-f-35b-first-flight-mbda-uk-2026\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Fortun\u00e9 Leroy\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/jetflights\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/5c2a0903e94d20f73e438b41e79c51be\"},\"headline\":\"A British Weapon Finally Flies Inside an F-35B\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-25T11:57:55+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-05-25T11:58:28+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/jetflights\\\/spear-3-missile-f-35b-first-flight-mbda-uk-2026\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":1054,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/jetflights\\\/spear-3-missile-f-35b-first-flight-mbda-uk-2026\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\/\\/migflug.com\\/jetflights\\/wp-content\\/uploads\\/sites\\/4\\/2026\\/05\\/f-35b-lightning-ii-spear-3-internal-bay.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Military Aviation\",\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/jetflights\\\/spear-3-missile-f-35b-first-flight-mbda-uk-2026\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/jetflights\\\/spear-3-missile-f-35b-first-flight-mbda-uk-2026\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/jetflights\\\/spear-3-missile-f-35b-first-flight-mbda-uk-2026\\\/\",\"name\":\"SPEAR 3 Flies on F-35B: A British Weapon Finally Inside the Lightning\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/jetflights\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/jetflights\\\/spear-3-missile-f-35b-first-flight-mbda-uk-2026\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/jetflights\\\/spear-3-missile-f-35b-first-flight-mbda-uk-2026\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\/\\/migflug.com\\/jetflights\\/wp-content\\/uploads\\/sites\\/4\\/2026\\/05\\/f-35b-lightning-ii-spear-3-internal-bay.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-25T11:57:55+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-05-25T11:58:28+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/jetflights\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/5c2a0903e94d20f73e438b41e79c51be\"},\"description\":\"After 16 years of development, MBDA's SPEAR 3 has flown for the first time on an F-35B. Four missiles per bay, eight per aircraft, all stealth-compatible.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/jetflights\\\/spear-3-missile-f-35b-first-flight-mbda-uk-2026\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/jetflights\\\/spear-3-missile-f-35b-first-flight-mbda-uk-2026\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/jetflights\\\/spear-3-missile-f-35b-first-flight-mbda-uk-2026\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\/\\/migflug.com\\/jetflights\\/wp-content\\/uploads\\/sites\\/4\\/2026\\/05\\/f-35b-lightning-ii-spear-3-internal-bay.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\/\\/migflug.com\\/jetflights\\/wp-content\\/uploads\\/sites\\/4\\/2026\\/05\\/f-35b-lightning-ii-spear-3-internal-bay.jpg\",\"width\":1280,\"height\":914,\"caption\":\"A US Marine Corps F-35B Lightning II \u2014 now cleared to carry up to eight British SPEAR 3 mini-cruise missiles internally without compromising stealth.\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/jetflights\\\/spear-3-missile-f-35b-first-flight-mbda-uk-2026\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Startseite\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/jetflights\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"A British Weapon Finally Flies Inside an F-35B\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/jetflights\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/jetflights\\\/\",\"name\":\"MiGFlug.com Blog\",\"description\":\"for those interested in flying military jets and aviation related  topics\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/jetflights\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/jetflights\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/5c2a0903e94d20f73e438b41e79c51be\",\"name\":\"Fortun\u00e9 Leroy\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/24d828074a1cc6684638b2dcfc98a9dd85a2e06b37adfd74d20fae209f234190?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/24d828074a1cc6684638b2dcfc98a9dd85a2e06b37adfd74d20fae209f234190?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/24d828074a1cc6684638b2dcfc98a9dd85a2e06b37adfd74d20fae209f234190?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Fortun\u00e9 Leroy\"},\"description\":\"Fortun\u00e9 covers European aviation with the flair you would expect from a Parisian defence correspondent. Raised on stories of the Arm\u00e9e de l'Air and educated at Sciences Po, he brings a continental perspective to everything from Rafale deployments to Airbus strategy. His articles connect the dots between industrial policy, alliance politics, and the aircraft that result from both.\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/jetflights\\\/author\\\/fortuneleroy\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"SPEAR 3 Flies on F-35B: A British Weapon Finally Inside the Lightning","description":"After 16 years of development, MBDA's SPEAR 3 has flown for the first time on an F-35B. Four missiles per bay, eight per aircraft, all stealth-compatible.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/spear-3-missile-f-35b-first-flight-mbda-uk-2026\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"SPEAR 3 Flies on F-35B: A British Weapon Finally Inside the Lightning","og_description":"After 16 years of development, MBDA's SPEAR 3 has flown for the first time on an F-35B. Four missiles per bay, eight per aircraft, all stealth-compatible.","og_url":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/spear-3-missile-f-35b-first-flight-mbda-uk-2026\/","og_site_name":"MiGFlug.com Blog","article_published_time":"2026-05-25T11:57:55+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-05-25T11:58:28+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1280,"height":914,"url":"https:\/\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\/cb:u-Aa.be16\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/ig:avif\/https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/05\/f-35b-lightning-ii-spear-3-internal-bay.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Fortun\u00e9 Leroy","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Fortun\u00e9 Leroy","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/spear-3-missile-f-35b-first-flight-mbda-uk-2026\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/spear-3-missile-f-35b-first-flight-mbda-uk-2026\/"},"author":{"name":"Fortun\u00e9 Leroy","@id":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/#\/schema\/person\/5c2a0903e94d20f73e438b41e79c51be"},"headline":"A British Weapon Finally Flies Inside an F-35B","datePublished":"2026-05-25T11:57:55+00:00","dateModified":"2026-05-25T11:58:28+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/spear-3-missile-f-35b-first-flight-mbda-uk-2026\/"},"wordCount":1054,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/spear-3-missile-f-35b-first-flight-mbda-uk-2026\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\/cb:u-Aa.be16\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/ig:avif\/https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/05\/f-35b-lightning-ii-spear-3-internal-bay.jpg","articleSection":["Military Aviation","News"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/spear-3-missile-f-35b-first-flight-mbda-uk-2026\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/spear-3-missile-f-35b-first-flight-mbda-uk-2026\/","url":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/spear-3-missile-f-35b-first-flight-mbda-uk-2026\/","name":"SPEAR 3 Flies on F-35B: A British Weapon Finally Inside the Lightning","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/spear-3-missile-f-35b-first-flight-mbda-uk-2026\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/spear-3-missile-f-35b-first-flight-mbda-uk-2026\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\/cb:u-Aa.be16\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/ig:avif\/https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/05\/f-35b-lightning-ii-spear-3-internal-bay.jpg","datePublished":"2026-05-25T11:57:55+00:00","dateModified":"2026-05-25T11:58:28+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/#\/schema\/person\/5c2a0903e94d20f73e438b41e79c51be"},"description":"After 16 years of development, MBDA's SPEAR 3 has flown for the first time on an F-35B. Four missiles per bay, eight per aircraft, all stealth-compatible.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/spear-3-missile-f-35b-first-flight-mbda-uk-2026\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/spear-3-missile-f-35b-first-flight-mbda-uk-2026\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/spear-3-missile-f-35b-first-flight-mbda-uk-2026\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\/cb:u-Aa.be16\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/ig:avif\/https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/05\/f-35b-lightning-ii-spear-3-internal-bay.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\/cb:u-Aa.be16\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/ig:avif\/https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/05\/f-35b-lightning-ii-spear-3-internal-bay.jpg","width":1280,"height":914,"caption":"A US Marine Corps F-35B Lightning II \u2014 now cleared to carry up to eight British SPEAR 3 mini-cruise missiles internally without compromising stealth."},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/spear-3-missile-f-35b-first-flight-mbda-uk-2026\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Startseite","item":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"A British Weapon Finally Flies Inside an F-35B"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/#website","url":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/","name":"MiGFlug.com Blog","description":"for those interested in flying military jets and aviation related  topics","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/#\/schema\/person\/5c2a0903e94d20f73e438b41e79c51be","name":"Fortun\u00e9 Leroy","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/24d828074a1cc6684638b2dcfc98a9dd85a2e06b37adfd74d20fae209f234190?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/24d828074a1cc6684638b2dcfc98a9dd85a2e06b37adfd74d20fae209f234190?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/24d828074a1cc6684638b2dcfc98a9dd85a2e06b37adfd74d20fae209f234190?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Fortun\u00e9 Leroy"},"description":"Fortun\u00e9 covers European aviation with the flair you would expect from a Parisian defence correspondent. Raised on stories of the Arm\u00e9e de l'Air and educated at Sciences Po, he brings a continental perspective to everything from Rafale deployments to Airbus strategy. His articles connect the dots between industrial policy, alliance politics, and the aircraft that result from both.","url":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/author\/fortuneleroy\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1205155","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1205155"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1205155\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1205163,"href":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1205155\/revisions\/1205163"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1205041"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1205155"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1205155"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1205155"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}