The Panavia Tornado is a family of
twin-engine
A twinjet or twin-engine jet is a jet aircraft powered by two engines. A twinjet is able to fly well enough to land with a single working engine, making it safer than a single-engine aircraft in the event of failure of an engine. Fuel efficien ...
,
variable-sweep wing
A variable-sweep wing, colloquially known as a "swing wing", is an airplane wing, or set of wings, that may be swept back and then returned to its original straight position during flight. It allows the aircraft's shape to be modified in fli ...
multirole combat aircraft
A multirole combat aircraft (MRCA) is a combat aircraft intended to perform different roles in combat. These roles can include air to air combat, air support,
aerial bombing, reconnaissance, electronic warfare, and suppression of air defens ...
, jointly developed and manufactured by Italy, the United Kingdom and West Germany. There are three primary
Tornado variants: the Tornado IDS (
interdictor
An interdictor is a type of attack aircraft that operates far behind enemy lines, with the express intent of air interdiction of the enemy's military targets, most notably those involved in logistics. Interdiction prevents or delays enemy for ...
/
strike
Strike may refer to:
People
*Strike (surname)
Physical confrontation or removal
*Strike (attack), attack with an inanimate object or a part of the human body intended to cause harm
*Airstrike, military strike by air forces on either a suspected ...
) fighter-bomber, the
suppression of enemy air defences Tornado ECR (
electronic combat
An electronic countermeasure (ECM) is an electrical or electronic device designed to countermeasure, trick or deceive radar, sonar, or other detection systems, like infrared (IR) or lasers. It may be used both offensively and defensively to deny ...
/
reconnaissance
In military operations, reconnaissance or scouting is the exploration of an area by military forces to obtain information about enemy forces, terrain, and other activities.
Examples of reconnaissance include patrolling by troops (skirmisher ...
) and the
Tornado ADV (air defence variant)
interceptor aircraft
An interceptor aircraft, or simply interceptor, is a type of fighter aircraft designed specifically for the defensive interception role against an attacking enemy aircraft, particularly bombers and reconnaissance aircraft. Aircraft that are cap ...
.
The Tornado was developed and built by
Panavia Aircraft GmbH
Panavia Aircraft GmbH is a German company established by the three partner states of the Tornado Multi Role Combat Aircraft (MRCA) project: West Germany, Italy and the UK.
Structure
The company was based and registered in West Germany. Since ...
, a tri-national consortium consisting of
British Aerospace
British Aerospace plc (BAe) was a British aircraft, munitions and defence-systems manufacturer. Its head office was at Warwick House in the Farnborough Aerospace Centre in Farnborough, Hampshire. Formed in 1977, in 1999 it purchased Marconi ...
(previously
British Aircraft Corporation
The British Aircraft Corporation (BAC) was a British aircraft manufacturer formed from the government-pressured merger of English Electric Aviation Ltd., Vickers-Armstrongs (Aircraft), the Bristol Aeroplane Company and Hunting Aircraft in 1 ...
),
MBB of West Germany, and
Aeritalia
Aeritalia was an aerospace engineering corporation based in Italy. It was formed out of the merger of two aviation companies, Fiat Aviazione and Aerfer, in 1969.
Aeritalia continued several programs of its preceding companies, perhaps most pro ...
of Italy. It first flew on 14 August 1974 and was introduced into service in 1979–1980. Due to its
multirole design, it was able to replace several different fleets of aircraft in the adopting air forces. The
Royal Saudi Air Force
The Royal Saudi Air Force ( ar, الْقُوَّاتُ الْجَوِّيَّةُ الْمَلَكِيَّةْ ٱلسُّعُوْدِيَّة, Al-Quwwat Al-Jawiyah Al-Malakiyah as-Su’udiyah) (RSAF) is the aviation branch of the Saudi Arabia ...
(RSAF) became the only export operator of the Tornado in addition to the three original partner nations. A tri-nation training and evaluation unit operating from
RAF Cottesmore
Royal Air Force Station Cottesmore or more simply RAF Cottesmore is a former Royal Air Force station in Rutland, England, situated between Cottesmore and Market Overton. On 15 December 2009, Defence Secretary Bob Ainsworth announced that the ...
, the
Tri-National Tornado Training Establishment
The Tri-National Tornado Training Establishment (TTTE) was a multinational air unit based at RAF Cottesmore in Rutland, England, from 1981 to 1999. It performed training on the Panavia Tornado for the Royal Air Force (RAF), Luftwaffe, Marineflie ...
, maintained a level of international co-operation beyond the production stage.
The Tornado was operated by the
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...
(RAF),
Italian Air Force
, colours =
, colours_label =
, march = (Ordinance March of the Air Force) by Alberto Di Miniello
, mascot =
, anniversaries = 28 March ...
, and RSAF during the
Gulf War
The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Iraq were carried out in two key phases: ...
of 1991, in which the Tornado conducted many low-altitude penetrating strike missions. The Tornados of various services were also used in the
Bosnian War
The Bosnian War ( sh, Rat u Bosni i Hercegovini / Рат у Босни и Херцеговини) was an international armed conflict that took place in Bosnia and Herzegovina between 1992 and 1995. The war is commonly seen as having started ...
,
Kosovo War
The Kosovo War was an armed conflict in Kosovo that started 28 February 1998 and lasted until 11 June 1999. It was fought by the forces of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (i.e. Serbia and Montenegro), which controlled Kosovo before the war ...
,
Iraq War
{{Infobox military conflict
, conflict = Iraq War {{Nobold, {{lang, ar, حرب العراق (Arabic) {{Nobold, {{lang, ku, شەڕی عێراق (Kurdish languages, Kurdish)
, partof = the Iraq conflict (2003–present), I ...
, in Libya during the
2011 Libyan civil war
The First Libyan Civil War was an armed conflict in 2011 in the North African country of Libya that was fought between forces loyal to Colonel Muammar Gaddafi and rebel groups that were seeking to oust his government. It erupted with the Liby ...
, as well as smaller roles in Afghanistan, Yemen, and
Syria
Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...
. Including all variants, 990
aircraft were built.
Development
Origins
![AFVG (1965)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cc/AFVG_%281965%29.jpg)
During the 1960s, aeronautical designers looked to
variable-geometry wing
The wing configuration of a fixed-wing aircraft (including both gliders and powered aeroplanes) is its arrangement of lifting and related surfaces.
Aircraft designs are often classified by their wing configuration. For example, the Superma ...
designs to gain the manoeuvrability and efficient cruise of straight wings with the speed of
swept wing
A swept wing is a wing that angles either backward or occasionally forward from its root rather than in a straight sideways direction.
Swept wings have been flown since the pioneer days of aviation. Wing sweep at high speeds was first investigate ...
designs. The United Kingdom had cancelled the procurement of the
TSR-2
The British Aircraft Corporation TSR-2 is a cancelled Cold War strike and reconnaissance aircraft developed by the British Aircraft Corporation (BAC), for the Royal Air Force (RAF) in the late 1950s and early 1960s. The TSR-2 was designed ...
and subsequent
F-111K
The General Dynamics F-111K was a planned variant of the General Dynamics F-111 Aardvark medium-range interdictor and fighter bomber, tactical strike aircraft by General Dynamics, to meet a requirement for such an aircraft for the Royal Air Force ...
aircraft, and was still looking for a replacement for its
Avro Vulcan
The Avro Vulcan (later Hawker Siddeley Vulcan from July 1963) is a jet-powered, tailless, delta-wing, high-altitude, strategic bomber, which was operated by the Royal Air Force (RAF) from 1956 until 1984. Aircraft manufacturer A.V. Roe and ...
and
Blackburn Buccaneer
The Blackburn Buccaneer is a British carrier-capable attack aircraft designed in the 1950s for the Royal Navy (RN). Designed and initially produced by Blackburn Aircraft at Brough, it was later officially known as the Hawker Siddeley Buccanee ...
strike aircraft.
[Segell 1997, p. 124.] Britain and France had initiated the
BAC/Dassault AFVG (Anglo French Variable Geometry) project in 1965, but this had ended with French withdrawal in 1967. Britain continued to develop a variable-geometry aircraft similar to the proposed AFVG, and sought new partners to achieve this.
[Willox 2002, p. 11.] West German
EWR with Boeing then with
Fairchild-Hiller and
Republic Aviation
The Republic Aviation Corporation was an American aircraft manufacturer based in Farmingdale, New York, on Long Island, New York, Long Island. Originally known as the Seversky Aircraft Company, the company was responsible for the design and produc ...
had been developing design studies of the swing-wing EWR-Fairchild-Hiller A400 AVS Advanced Vertical Strike (which has a similar configuration to the Tornado) from 1964 to 1968
In 1968, West Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Italy and Canada formed a working group to examine replacements for the
Lockheed F-104 Starfighter
The Lockheed F-104 Starfighter is an American single-engine, supersonic air superiority fighter which was extensively deployed as a fighter-bomber during the Cold War. Created as a day fighter by Lockheed as one of the "Century Series" of fi ...
,
initially called the ''Multi Role Aircraft (MRA)'', later renamed as the ''Multi Role Combat Aircraft (MRCA)''.
[Scutts 2000, p. 53.] As the partner nations' requirements were so diverse, it was decided to develop a single aircraft that could perform a variety of missions that were previously undertaken by a fleet of different aircraft. Britain joined the MRCA group in 1968, represented by
Air Vice-Marshal
Air vice-marshal (AVM) is a two-star air officer rank which originated in and continues to be used by the Royal Air Force. The rank is also used by the air forces of many countries which have historical British influence and it is sometimes u ...
Michael Giddings
Air Marshal Sir Kenneth Charles Michael Giddings, (27 August 1920 – 5 April 2009) was a senior Royal Air Force officer who served as a fighter pilot during the Second World War. After retiring from the military, he became an independent panel ...
, and a memorandum of agreement was drafted between Britain, West Germany, and Italy in May 1969.
By the end of 1968, the prospective purchases from the six countries amounted to 1,500 aircraft.
[Jefford et al. 2002, p. 28.] Canada and Belgium had departed before any long-term commitments had been made to the programme;
[Haglund 1989, p. 48.] Canada had found the project politically unpalatable; there was a perception in political circles that much of the manufacturing and specifications were focused on Western Europe. France had made a favourable offer to Belgium on the
Dassault Mirage 5
The Dassault Mirage 5 is a French supersonic attack aircraft designed by Dassault Aviation during the 1960s and manufactured in France and a number of other countries. It was derived from Dassault's popular Mirage III fighter and spawned sever ...
.
Panavia Aircraft GmbH
On 26 March 1969, four partner nations – United Kingdom, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands, agreed to form a multinational company, Panavia Aircraft GmbH, to develop and manufacture the MRCA.
[Morris, Joe Alex Jr. "Messerschmitt Back in Business." ''St. Petersburg Times,'' 30 April 1969.] The project's aim was to produce an aircraft capable of undertaking missions in the tactical strike, reconnaissance, air defence, and maritime roles.
Various concepts, including alternative fixed-wing and single-engine designs, were studied while defining the aircraft.
[Jefford et al. 2002, p. 26.] The Netherlands pulled out of the project in 1970, citing that the aircraft was too complicated and technical for the
RNLAF
, colours =
, colours_label =
, march = ''Parade March of the Royal Netherlands Air Force''
, mascot =
, anniversaries =
, equipment ...
's preferences,
which had sought a simpler aircraft with outstanding manoeuvrability.
[Haglund 1989, p. 49.] An additional blow was struck when the German requirement reduced from an initial 600 aircraft to 324 in 1972.
[Jefford et al. 2002, pp. 28–29.] It has been suggested that Germany deliberately placed an unrealistically high initial order to secure the company headquarters and initial test flight in Germany rather than the UK, so as to have a bigger design influence.
![RAF Tornado F2](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0f/RAF_Tornado_F2.JPEG)
When the agreement was finalised, the United Kingdom and West Germany each had a 42.5% stake of the workload, with the remaining 15% going to Italy; this division of the production work was heavily influenced by international political bargaining.
[Haglund 1989, pp. 52, 56.] The front fuselage and tail assembly was assigned to
BAC
BAC or Bac may refer to:
Places
* Bac, Rožaje, Bac, a village in Montenegro
* Baile Átha Cliath, Irish language name for Dublin city.
* Bîc River, aka ''Bâc River'', a Moldovan river
* Baç Bridge, bridge in Turkey
* Barnes County Municipal A ...
(now
BAE Systems
BAE Systems plc (BAE) is a British multinational arms, security, and aerospace company based in London, England. It is the largest defence contractor in Europe, and ranked the seventh-largest in the world based on applicable 2021 revenues. ...
) in the United Kingdom; the centre fuselage to
MBB (now part of
Airbus
Airbus SE (; ; ; ) is a European Multinational corporation, multinational aerospace corporation. Airbus designs, manufactures and sells civil and military aerospace manufacturer, aerospace products worldwide and manufactures aircraft througho ...
) in West Germany; and the wings to
Aeritalia
Aeritalia was an aerospace engineering corporation based in Italy. It was formed out of the merger of two aviation companies, Fiat Aviazione and Aerfer, in 1969.
Aeritalia continued several programs of its preceding companies, perhaps most pro ...
(now
Leonardo
Leonardo is a masculine given name, the Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese equivalent of the English, German, and Dutch name, Leonard
Leonard or ''Leo'' is a common English masculine given name and a surname.
The given name and surname originate ...
) in Italy.
[Segell 1997, p. 125.] Similarly, tri-national worksharing was used for engines and equipment. A separate multinational company,
Turbo-Union
Turbo-Union Limited is a joint venture between three European aero-engine manufacturers, FiatAvio (now Avio), MTU Aero Engines and Rolls-Royce.
Products
The company's only product is the RB199, a three-spool turbofan developed specifically for ...
, was formed in June 1970 to develop and build the
RB199
The Turbo-Union RB199 is a turbofan jet engine designed and built in the early 1970s by Turbo-Union, a joint venture between Rolls-Royce, MTU and Aeritalia. The only production application was the Panavia Tornado.
Design and development
The R ...
engines for the aircraft, with ownership split 40%
Rolls-Royce
Rolls-Royce (always hyphenated) may refer to:
* Rolls-Royce Limited, a British manufacturer of cars and later aero engines, founded in 1906, now defunct
Automobiles
* Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, the current car manufacturing company incorporated in ...
, 40%
MTU, and 20%
FIAT
Fiat Automobiles S.p.A. (, , ; originally FIAT, it, Fabbrica Italiana Automobili di Torino, lit=Italian Automobiles Factory of Turin) is an Italian automobile manufacturer, formerly part of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, and since 2021 a subsidiary ...
.
[Long, Wellington]
"Swing-Wing Wonder Weapon Is Going Into Production."
''Ludington Daily News,''24 August 1976.
At the conclusion of the project definition phase in May 1970, the concepts were reduced to two designs; a single seat Panavia 100 which West Germany initially preferred, and the twin-seat Panavia 200 which the RAF preferred.
The aircraft was briefly called the ''Panavia Panther'', and the project soon coalesced towards the two-seat option. In September 1971, the three governments signed an Intention to Proceed (ITP) document, at which point the aircraft was intended solely for the low-level strike mission, where it was viewed as a viable threat to Soviet defences in that role. It was at this point that Britain's Chief of the Defence Staff announced "two-thirds of the fighting front line will be composed of this single, basic aircraft type".
Prototypes and testing
The first of fifteen development aircraft (nine prototypes, P01 to P09, and six pre-series, PS11 to PS 16) flew on 14 August 1974 at
Manching
Manching is a municipality in the district of Pfaffenhofen, in Bavaria, Germany. It is situated on the river Paar, 7 km southeast of Ingolstadt. In the late Iron Age, there was a Celtic settlement, the Oppidum of Manching, on the location of ...
, Germany; the pilot, Paul Millett described his experience: "Aircraft handling was delightful... the actual flight went so smoothly that I did begin to wonder whether this was not yet another simulation". Flight testing led to the need for minor modifications. Airflow disturbances were responded to by re-profiling the
engine intakes and the fuselage to minimise
surging and
buffeting
Aeroelasticity is the branch of physics and engineering studying the interactions between the inertial, elastic, and aerodynamic forces occurring while an elastic body is exposed to a fluid flow. The study of aeroelasticity may be broadly classi ...
at supersonic speeds.
According to Jim Quinn, programmer of the Tornado development simulation software and engineer on the Tornado engine and engine controls, the prototype was safely capable of reaching
supercruise
Supercruise is sustained supersonic flight of a supersonic aircraft with a useful cargo, passenger, or weapons load without using afterburner (also known as "reheat"). Many supersonic military aircraft are not capable of supercruise and can only m ...
, but the engines had severe safety issues at high altitude while trying to decelerate. At high altitude and low turbine speed the compressor did not provide enough pressure to hold back the combustion pressure and would result in a violent vibration as the combustion pressure backfired into the intake. To avoid this effect the engine controls would automatically increase the minimum idle setting as altitude increased, until at very high altitudes the idle setting was so high, however, that it was close to maximum dry thrust. This resulted in one of the test aircraft being stuck in a mach 1.2 supercruise at high altitude and having to reduce speed by turning the aircraft, because the idle setting at that altitude was so high that the aircraft could not decelerate.
![Panavia Tornado GR1, UK - Air Force AN1390711](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/35/Panavia_Tornado_GR1%2C_UK_-_Air_Force_AN1390711.jpg)
The British
Ministry of Supply
The Ministry of Supply (MoS) was a department of the UK government formed in 1939 to co-ordinate the supply of equipment to all three British armed forces, headed by the Minister of Supply. A separate ministry, however, was responsible for aircr ...
assigned Chief Engineer Ted Talbot from the Concorde development team to provide intake design assistance to the Tornado development team in order to overcome these issues, which they hesitantly agreed to after noting that the Concorde intake data had apparently already been leaked to the Soviet Union. The German engineers working on the Tornado intake were unable to produce a functional Concorde style intake despite having data from the Concorde team. To make the problem worse, their management team incorrectly filed a patent on the Concorde design, and then tried to sue the British engineers who had provided the design to them. The German lawyers realised that the British had provided the designs to the German team, and requested further information to help their engineers overcome the problems with the Tornado intake, but Chief Engineer Talbot refused. According to Talbot, the Concorde engineers had determined the issue with the Tornado intake was that the engine did not respond to unexpected changes in the intake position, and therefore the engine was running at the wrong setting for a given position of the intake ramps. This was because the Concorde had similar issues due to control pressure not being high enough to maintain proper angles of the intake ramps. Aerodynamic forces could force the intakes into the improper position, and so they should have the ability to control the engines if this occurs. The Tornado intake system did not allow for this. Due to the behaviour of the German management team, the British engineers declined to share this information, and so the Tornado was not equipped with the more advanced intake design of the Concorde.
Testing revealed that a nose-wheel steering augmentation system, connecting with the
yaw damper
A yaw damper (sometimes referred to as a stability augmentation system) is a system used to reduce (or damp) the undesirable tendencies of an aircraft to oscillate in a repetitive rolling and yawing motion, a phenomenon known as the Dutch roll. ...
, was necessary to counteract the destabilising effect produced by deploying the
thrust reverser
Thrust reversal, also called reverse thrust, is the temporary diversion of an aircraft engine's thrust for it to act against the forward travel of the aircraft, providing deceleration. Thrust reverser systems are featured on many jet aircraft ...
during the landing roll.
From 1967 until 1984 Soviet
KGB
The KGB (russian: links=no, lit=Committee for State Security, Комитет государственной безопасности (КГБ), a=ru-KGB.ogg, p=kəmʲɪˈtʲet ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)əj bʲɪzɐˈpasnəsʲtʲɪ, Komitet gosud ...
agents were provided details on the Tornado by the head of the West German
Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm
Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm (MBB) was a West German aerospace manufacturer. It was formed during the late 1960s as the result of efforts to consolidate the West German aerospace industry; aircraft manufacturer Messerschmitt AG merged with the civi ...
Planning department, Manfred Rotsch.
Two prototypes were lost in accidents, both of which had been primarily caused by poor piloting decisions and errors leading to two ground collision incidents; a third Tornado prototype was seriously damaged by an incident involving
pilot-induced pitch oscillation. During the type's development, aircraft designers of the era were beginning to incorporate features such as more sophisticated stability augmentation systems and autopilots. Aircraft such as the Tornado and the
General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon
The General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon is a single-engine Multirole combat aircraft, multirole fighter aircraft originally developed by General Dynamics for the United States Air Force (USAF). Designed as an air superiority day fighter, it ...
made use of these new technologies. Failure testing of the Tornado's triplex
analogue command and stability augmentation system (CSAS) was conducted on a series of realistic flight control rigs; the variable-sweep wings in combination with varying, and frequently very heavy, payloads complicated the clearance process.
Production
![F-15C Tornado IDS DFST8901717](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/44/F-15C_Tornado_IDS_DFST8901717.JPEG)
The contract for the Batch 1 aircraft was signed on 29 July 1976.
The first flight of a production aircraft was on 10 July 1979 by ZA319 at BAe Warton.
The first aircraft were delivered to the RAF and
German Air Force
The German Air Force (german: Luftwaffe, lit=air weapon or air arm, ) is the aerial warfare branch of the , the armed forces of Germany. The German Air Force (as part of the ''Bundeswehr'') was founded in 1956 during the era of the Cold War a ...
on 5 and 6 June 1979 respectively. The first Italian Tornado was delivered on 25 September 1981. On 29 January 1981, the
Tri-National Tornado Training Establishment
The Tri-National Tornado Training Establishment (TTTE) was a multinational air unit based at RAF Cottesmore in Rutland, England, from 1981 to 1999. It performed training on the Panavia Tornado for the Royal Air Force (RAF), Luftwaffe, Marineflie ...
(TTTE) officially opened at
RAF Cottesmore
Royal Air Force Station Cottesmore or more simply RAF Cottesmore is a former Royal Air Force station in Rutland, England, situated between Cottesmore and Market Overton. On 15 December 2009, Defence Secretary Bob Ainsworth announced that the ...
, remaining active in training pilots from all operating nations until 31 March 1999. The 500th Tornado to be produced was delivered to West Germany on 19 December 1987.
Export customers were sought after West Germany withdrew its objections to exporting the aircraft;
Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...
was the only export customer of the Tornado. The agreement to purchase the Tornado was part of the
Al-Yamamah arms deal
Al Yamamah ( ar, اليمامة, translation=The Dove) is the name of a series of record arms sales by the United Kingdom to Saudi Arabia, paid for by the delivery of up to of crude oil per day to the British government. The prime contracto ...
between British Aerospace and the Saudi government. Oman had committed to purchasing Tornados and the equipment to operate them for a total value of £250 million in the late 1980s, but cancelled the order in 1990 due to financial difficulties.
During the 1970s, Australia considered joining the MRCA programme to find a replacement for their ageing
Dassault Mirage III
The Dassault Mirage III () is a family of single/dual-seat, single-engine, fighter aircraft developed and manufactured by French aircraft company Dassault Aviation. It was the first Western European combat aircraft to exceed Mach 2 in horizonta ...
s; ultimately the
McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet
The McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet is an all-weather, twin-engine, supersonic, carrier-capable, multirole combat aircraft, designed as both a fighter and attack aircraft (hence the F/A designation). Designed by McDonnell Douglas (now p ...
was selected to meet the requirement. Canada similarly opted for the F/A-18 after considering the Tornado. Japan considered the Tornado in the 1980s, along with the F-16 and F/A-18, before selecting the
Mitsubishi F-2
The Mitsubishi F-2 is a multirole fighter derived from the General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon, and manufactured by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Lockheed Martin for the Japan Air Self-Defense Force, with a 60/40 split in manufacturing betw ...
. In the 1990s, both
Taiwan
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...
and
South Korea
South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...
expressed interest in acquiring a small number of Tornado ECR aircraft. In 2001,
EADS
Airbus SE (; ; ; ) is a European multinational aerospace corporation. Airbus designs, manufactures and sells civil and military aerospace products worldwide and manufactures aircraft throughout the world. The company has three divisions: '' ...
proposed a Tornado ECR variant with a greater
electronic warfare
Electronic warfare (EW) is any action involving the use of the electromagnetic spectrum (EM spectrum) or directed energy to control the spectrum, attack an enemy, or impede enemy assaults. The purpose of electronic warfare is to deny the opponen ...
capability for Australia.
Production came to an end in 1998; the last batch of aircraft produced going to the Royal Saudi Air Force, who had ordered a total of 96 IDS Tornados.
[ In June 2011, it was announced that the Tornado fleet had flown collectively over one million flying hours. Aviation author Jon Lake noted that "The Trinational Panavia Consortium produced just short of 1,000 Tornados, making it one of the most successful postwar bomber programs". In 2008, ''AirForces Monthly'' said of the Tornado: "For more than a quarter of a century ... the most important military aircraft in Western Europe."][Martin, Guy. "All The World's Tornados." ''AirForces Monthly,'' October 2008, p. 56.]
Design
Overview
The Panavia Tornado is a multirole, twin-engined aircraft designed to excel at low-level penetration of enemy defences. The mission envisaged during the Cold War
The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...
was the delivery of conventional and nuclear ordnance on the invading forces of the Warsaw Pact
The Warsaw Pact (WP) or Treaty of Warsaw, formally the Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance, was a collective defense treaty signed in Warsaw, Poland, between the Soviet Union and seven other Eastern Bloc socialist republic ...
countries of Eastern Europe; this dictated several significant features of the design. Variable wing geometry allowed for minimal drag during the low-level dash towards a well-prepared enemy. Advanced navigation and flight computers, including the then-innovative fly-by-wire
Fly-by-wire (FBW) is a system that replaces the conventional manual flight controls of an aircraft with an electronic interface. The movements of flight controls are converted to electronic signals transmitted by wires, and flight control co ...
system, greatly reduced the workload of the pilot during low-level flight and eased control of the aircraft. For long range missions, the Tornado has a retractable refuelling probe.
As a multirole aircraft, the Tornado is capable of undertaking more mission profiles than the anticipated strike mission; various operators replaced multiple aircraft types with the Tornado as a common type – the use of dedicated single role aircraft for specialist purposes such as battlefield reconnaissance, maritime patrol duties, or dedicated electronic countermeasures (ECM) were phased out – either by standard Tornados or modified variants, such as the Tornado ECR. The most extensive modification from the base Tornado design was the Tornado ADV, which was stretched and armed with long range anti-aircraft missiles to serve in the interceptor role.
Tornado operators have undertaken various life extension and upgrade programmes to keep their Tornado fleets as viable frontline aircraft. With these upgrades it is projected that the Tornado shall be in service until 2025, more than 50 years after the first prototype took flight.
Variable-sweep wing
In order for the Tornado to perform well as a low-level supersonic strike aircraft, it was considered necessary for it to possess good high-speed and low-speed flight characteristics. To achieve high-speed performance, a swept or delta
Delta commonly refers to:
* Delta (letter) (Δ or δ), a letter of the Greek alphabet
* River delta, at a river mouth
* D (NATO phonetic alphabet: "Delta")
* Delta Air Lines, US
* Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 that causes COVID-19
Delta may also re ...
wing is typically adopted, but these wing designs are inefficient at low speeds. To operate at both high and low speeds with great effectiveness, the Tornado uses a variable-sweep wing. This approach had been adopted by earlier aircraft, such as the American General Dynamics F-111 Aardvark
The General Dynamics F-111 Aardvark is a retired supersonic, medium-range, multirole combat aircraft. Production variants of the F-111 had roles that included ground attack (e.g. interdiction), strategic bombing (including nuclear weapons c ...
strike fighter, and the Soviet Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-23
The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-23 (russian: Микоян и Гуревич МиГ-23; NATO reporting name: Flogger) is a variable-geometry fighter aircraft, designed by the Mikoyan-Gurevich design bureau in the Soviet Union. It is a third-generati ...
fighter. The smaller Tornado has many similarities with the F-111, however the Tornado differs in being a multi-role aircraft with more advanced onboard systems and avionics.
The level of wing sweep
A swept wing is a wing that angles either backward or occasionally forward from its root rather than in a straight sideways direction.
Swept wings have been flown since the pioneer days of aviation. Wing sweep at high speeds was first investigate ...
(i.e. the angle of the wings in relation to the fuselage) can be altered in flight at the pilot's control. The variable wing can adopt any sweep angle between 25 degrees and 67 degrees, with a corresponding speed range for each angle. Some Tornado ADVs were outfitted with an automatic wing-sweep system to reduce pilot workload. When the wings are swept back, the exposed wing area
A wing is a type of fin that produces lift while moving through air or some other fluid. Accordingly, wings have streamlined cross-sections that are subject to aerodynamic forces and act as airfoils. A wing's aerodynamic efficiency is expresse ...
is lowered and drag is significantly decreased, which is conducive to performing high-speed low-level flight. The weapons pylons pivot with the angle of the variable-sweep wings so that the stores point in the direction of flight and do not hinder any wing positions.[Scutts 2000, p. 54.]
In development, significant attention was given to the Tornado's short-field take-off and landing (STOL
A short takeoff and landing (STOL) aircraft is a conventional fixed-wing aircraft that has short runway requirements for takeoff and landing. Many STOL-designed aircraft also feature various arrangements for use on airstrips with harsh conditio ...
) performance. Germany, in particular, encouraged this design aspect. For shorter take-off and landing distances, the Tornado can sweep its wings forwards to the 25-degree position, and deploy its full-span flaps and leading edge slats
Slats are aerodynamic surfaces on the leading edge of the wing of a fixed-wing aircraft which, when deployed, allow the wing to operate at a higher angle of attack. A higher coefficient of lift is produced as a result of angle of attack and speed, ...
to allow the aircraft to fly at slower speeds. These features, in combination with the thrust reverser
Thrust reversal, also called reverse thrust, is the temporary diversion of an aircraft engine's thrust for it to act against the forward travel of the aircraft, providing deceleration. Thrust reverser systems are featured on many jet aircraft ...
-equipped engines, give the Tornado excellent low-speed handling and landing characteristics.
Avionics
The Tornado features a tandem-seat
Tandem, or in tandem, is an arrangement in which a team of machines, animals or people are lined up one behind another, all facing in the same direction.
The original use of the term in English was in ''tandem harness'', which is used for two ...
cockpit, crewed by a pilot and a navigator/weapons officer; both electromechanical
In engineering, electromechanics combines processes and procedures drawn from electrical engineering and mechanical engineering. Electromechanics focuses on the interaction of electrical and mechanical systems as a whole and how the two systems ...
and electro-optical
Electro–optics is a branch of electrical engineering, electronic engineering, materials science, and material physics involving components, electronic devices such as lasers, laser diodes, LEDs, waveguides, etc. which operate by the propaga ...
controls are used to fly the aircraft and manage its systems. An array of dials and switches are mounted on either side of a centrally placed CRT monitor
A cathode-ray tube (CRT) is a vacuum tube containing one or more electron guns, which emit electron beams that are manipulated to display images on a phosphorescent screen. The images may represent electrical waveforms ( oscilloscope), pictu ...
, controlling the navigational, communications, and weapons-control computers. BAE Systems developed the Tornado Advanced Radar Display Information System (TARDIS), a multi-function display
A multifunction display (MFD) is a small-screen ( CRT or LCD) surrounded by multiple soft keys (configurable buttons) that can be used to display information to the user in numerous configurable ways. MFDs originated in aviation, first in mil ...
, to replace the rear cockpit's Combined Radar and Projected Map Display; the RAF began installing TARDIS on the GR4 fleet in 2004.
The primary flight controls of the Tornado are a fly-by-wire
Fly-by-wire (FBW) is a system that replaces the conventional manual flight controls of an aircraft with an electronic interface. The movements of flight controls are converted to electronic signals transmitted by wires, and flight control co ...
hybrid, consisting of an analogue quadruplex Command and Stability Augmentation System (CSAS) connected to a digital Autopilot & Flight Director System (AFDS). In addition a level of mechanical reversion capacity was retained to safeguard against potential failure. To enhance pilot awareness, artificial feel was built into the flight controls, such as the centrally located stick
Stick or the stick may refer to:
Thin elongated objects
* Twig
* The weapon used in stick fighting
* Walking stick, a device to facilitate balancing while walking
* Shepherd's crook
* Swagger stick
* Digging stick
* Swizzle stick, used to stir d ...
. Because the Tornado's variable wings enable the aircraft to drastically alter its flight envelope, the artificial responses adjust automatically to wing profile changes and other changes to flight attitude. As a large variety of munitions and stores can be outfitted, the resulting changes to the aircraft's flight dynamics are routinely compensated for by the flight stability system.
The Tornado incorporates a combined navigation/attack Doppler radar
A Doppler radar is a specialized radar that uses the Doppler effect to produce velocity data about objects at a distance. It does this by bouncing a microwave signal off a desired target and analyzing how the object's motion has altered the f ...
that simultaneously scans for targets and conducts fully automated terrain-following for low-level flight operations. Being able to conduct all-weather hands-off low-level flight was considered one of the core advantages of the Tornado. The Tornado ADV had a different radar system to other variants, designated AI.24 Foxhunter, as it is designed for air defence
Anti-aircraft warfare, counter-air or air defence forces is the battlespace response to aerial warfare, defined by NATO as "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It includes surface based, ...
operations. It was capable of tracking up to 20 targets at ranges of up to . The Tornado was one of the earliest aircraft to be fitted with a digital data bus for data transmission. A Link 16 JTIDS integration on the F3 variant enabled the exchange of radar and other sensory information with nearby friendly aircraft.
Some Tornado variants carry different avionics and equipment, depending on their mission. The Tornado ECR operated by Germany and Italy is devoted to Suppression of Enemy Air Defences (SEAD) missions. The Tornado ECR is equipped with an emitter-locator system (ELS) to detect radar use.[Jackson et al. 1998, p. 237.] German ECRs have a Honeywell
Honeywell International Inc. is an American publicly traded, multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. It primarily operates in four areas of business: aerospace, building technologies, performance ma ...
infrared imaging system for reconnaissance flights. RAF and RSAF Tornados have the Laser
A laser is a device that emits light through a process of optical amplification based on the stimulated emission of electromagnetic radiation. The word "laser" is an acronym for "light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation". The fir ...
Range Finder and Marked Target Seekers (LRMTS) for targeting laser-guided
Laser guidance directs a robotics system to a target position by means of a laser beam. The laser guidance of a robot is accomplished by projecting a laser light, image processing and communication to improve the accuracy of guidance. The key ide ...
munitions. In 1991, the RAF introduced TIALD, allowing Tornado GR1s to laser-designate their own targets.
The GR1A and GR4A reconnaissance variants were equipped with TIRRS (Tornado Infrared Reconnaissance System), consisting of one SLIR (Sideways Looking Infra Red) sensor on each side of the fuselage forward of the engine intakes to capture oblique images, and a single IRLS ( InfrarRed LineScan) sensor mounted on the fuselage's underside to provide vertical images. TIRRS recorded images on six S-VHS
, the common initialism for Super VHS, is an improved version of the VHS standard for consumer-level video recording. Victor Company of Japan introduced S-VHS in Japan in April 1987, with their JVC-branded HR-S7000 VCR, and in certain overseas ...
video tape
Videotape is magnetic tape used for storing video and usually sound in addition. Information stored can be in the form of either an analog or digital signal. Videotape is used in both video tape recorders (VTRs) and, more commonly, videocassette ...
s.[Evans 1999, pp. 97–99.] The newer RAPTOR
Raptor or RAPTOR may refer to:
Animals
The word "raptor" refers to several groups of bird-like dinosaurs which primarily capture and subdue/kill prey with their talons.
* Raptor (bird) or bird of prey, a bird that primarily hunts and feeds on v ...
reconnaissance pod replaced the built-in TIRRS system.
Armament and equipment
The Tornado is cleared to carry the majority of air-launched weapons in the NATO
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...
inventory, including various unguided and laser-guided bomb
A laser-guided bomb (LGB) is a guided bomb that uses semi-active laser guidance to strike a designated target with greater accuracy than an unguided bomb. First developed by the United States during the Vietnam War, laser-guided bombs quickly p ...
s, anti-ship and anti-radiation missile
An anti-radiation missile (ARM) is a missile designed to detect and home in on an enemy radio emission source. Typically, these are designed for use against an enemy radar, although jammers and even radios used for communications can also be t ...
s, as well as specialised weapons such as anti-personnel mine
Anti-personnel mines are a form of mine designed for use against humans, as opposed to anti-tank mines, which are designed for use against vehicles. Anti-personnel mines may be classified into blast mines or fragmentation mines; the latter may ...
s and anti-runway munitions.["RAF Tornado Aircraft Deployments in Operation Granby."]
''Royal Air Force''. Retrieved: 27 October 2006. To improve survivability in combat, the Tornado is equipped with onboard countermeasures, ranging from flare
A flare, also sometimes called a fusée, fusee, or bengala in some Latin-speaking countries, is a type of pyrotechnic that produces a bright light or intense heat without an explosion. Flares are used for distress signaling, illumination, ...
and chaff
Chaff (; ) is the dry, scaly protective casing of the seeds of cereal grains or similar fine, dry, scaly plant material (such as scaly parts of flowers or finely chopped straw). Chaff is indigestible by humans, but livestock can eat it. In agri ...
dispensers to electronic countermeasure pods that can be mounted under the wings.[ Underwing fuel tanks and a ]buddy store
Aerial refueling, also referred to as air refueling, in-flight refueling (IFR), air-to-air refueling (AAR), and tanking, is the process of transferring aviation fuel from one aircraft (the tanker) to another (the receiver) while both aircraft a ...
aerial refuelling
Aerial refueling, also referred to as air refueling, in-flight refueling (IFR), air-to-air refueling (AAR), and tanking, is the process of transferring aviation fuel from one aircraft (the tanker) to another (the receiver) while both aircraft a ...
system that allows one Tornado to refuel another are available to extend the aircraft's range.[Laming 1996, p. 97.]
In the decades since the Tornado's introduction, all of the Tornado operators have undertaken various upgrade and modification programmes to allow new weapons to be used by their squadrons. Amongst the armaments that the Tornado has been adapted to deploy are the Enhanced Paveway
Paveway is a series of laser-guided bombs (LGBs).
''Pave'' or PAVE is sometimes used as an acronym for ''precision avionics vectoring equipment''; literally, electronics for controlling the speed and direction of aircraft. Laser guidance is a ...
and Joint Direct Attack Munition
The Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) is a guidance kit that converts unguided bombs, or "dumb bombs", into all-weather precision-guided munitions. JDAM-equipped bombs are guided by an integrated inertial guidance system coupled to a Global Pos ...
bombs, and modern cruise missiles
A cruise missile is a guided missile used against terrestrial or naval targets that remains in the atmosphere and flies the major portion of its flight path at approximately constant speed. Cruise missiles are designed to deliver a large warhead ...
such as the Taurus
Taurus is Latin for 'bull' and may refer to:
* Taurus (astrology), the astrological sign
* Taurus (constellation), one of the constellations of the zodiac
* Taurus (mythology), one of two Greek mythological characters named Taurus
* ''Bos taurus ...
and Storm Shadow
Storm Shadow is an Anglo-French low-observable, long-range, air-launched cruise missile developed since 1994 by Matra and British Aerospace, and now manufactured by MBDA. Storm Shadow is the weapon's British appellation. In French service, it is ...
missiles. These upgrades have increased the Tornado's capabilities and combat accuracy.[Cordesman 2003, p. 298.][ Precision weapons such as cruise missiles have replaced older munitions such as ]cluster bomb
A cluster munition is a form of air-dropped or ground-launched explosive weapon that releases or ejects smaller submunitions. Commonly, this is a cluster bomb that ejects explosive bomblets that are designed to kill personnel and destroy vehicl ...
s.
Strike variants have a limited air-to-air capability with AIM-9 Sidewinder
The AIM-9 Sidewinder (where "AIM" stands for "Air Intercept Missile") is a short-range air-to-air missile which entered service with the US Navy in 1956 and subsequently was adopted by the US Air Force in 1964. Since then the Sidewinder has prov ...
or AIM-132 ASRAAM
The Advanced Short Range Air-to-Air Missile (ASRAAM), also known by its United States designation AIM-132, is an imaging infrared homing (heat seeking) air-to-air missile, produced by MBDA UK, that is designed for close-range combat. It is in s ...
air-to-air missile
The newest and the oldest member of Rafael's Python family of AAM for comparisons, Python-5 (displayed lower-front) and Shafrir-1 (upper-back)
An air-to-air missile (AAM) is a missile fired from an aircraft for the purpose of destroying a ...
s (AAMs). The Tornado ADV was outfitted with beyond visual range
A beyond-visual-range missile (BVR) is an air-to-air missile (BVRAAM) that is capable of engaging at ranges of or beyond. This range has been achieved using dual pulse rocket motors or booster rocket motor and ramjet sustainer motor.
In additio ...
AAMs such as the Skyflash
The Skyflash, or Sky Flash in marketing material, was a medium-range semi-active radar homing air-to-air missile derived from the US AIM-7 Sparrow missile and carried by Royal Air Force McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantoms and Tornado F3s, Italian ...
and AIM-120 AMRAAM
The AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile, or AMRAAM (pronounced ), is an American beyond-visual-range air-to-air missile (BVRAAM) capable of all-weather day-and-night operations. It is 7 inches (18 cm) in diameter, and employs ...
missiles. The Tornado is armed with two Mauser BK-27
The BK 27 (also BK27 or BK-27) (German abbreviation for ''Bordkanone'', "on-board cannon") is a caliber revolver cannon manufactured by Mauser (now part of Rheinmetall) of Germany. It was developed in the late 1960s for the MRCA (Multi Role Com ...
revolver cannon
A revolver cannon is a type of autocannon, commonly used as an aircraft gun. It uses a cylinder with multiple chambers, like those of a revolver handgun, to speed up the loading-firing-ejection cycle. Some examples are also power-driven, to fur ...
internally mounted underneath the fuselage; the Tornado ADV was only armed with one cannon. When the RAF GR1 aircraft were converted to GR4, the FLIR sensor replaced the left hand cannon, leaving only one;[Lake ''Air International'' April 2008, p. 25.] the GR1A reconnaissance variant gave up both its guns to make space for the sideways looking infra-red sensors. The Mauser BK-27 was developed specifically for the Tornado, but has since been used on several other European fighters, such as the Dassault/Dornier Alpha Jet
The Dassault/Dornier Alpha Jet is a light attack jet and advanced jet trainer co-manufactured by Dassault Aviation of France and Dornier Flugzeugwerke of Germany. It was developed specifically to perform trainer and light attack missions, a ...
, Saab JAS 39 Gripen
The Saab JAS 39 Gripen (; English: ''griffin'') is a light single-engine multirole fighter aircraft manufactured by the Swedish aerospace and defense company Saab AB. The Gripen has a delta wing and canard configuration with relaxed stabilit ...
, and Eurofighter Typhoon
The Eurofighter Typhoon is a European multinational twin-engine, canard delta wing, multirole fighter. The Typhoon was designed originally as an air-superiority fighter and is manufactured by a consortium of Airbus, BAE Systems and Leonardo ...
.["27 x 145 B ammunition (Switzerland), Cannon – 20 to 30 mm cannon."](_blank)
Jane's Information Group
Jane's Information Group, now styled Janes, is a global open-source intelligence company specialising in military, national security, aerospace and transport topics, whose name derives from British author Fred T. Jane.
History
Jane's Informatio ...
, 27 October 2011.
The Tornado is capable of delivering air-launched nuclear weapon
A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission (fission bomb) or a combination of fission and fusion reactions ( thermonuclear bomb), producing a nuclear explosion. Both bom ...
s. In 1979, Britain considered replacing its Polaris
Polaris is a star in the northern circumpolar constellation of Ursa Minor. It is designated α Ursae Minoris ( Latinized to ''Alpha Ursae Minoris'') and is commonly called the North Star or Pole Star. With an apparent magnitude that ...
submarines with either the Trident
A trident is a three- pronged spear. It is used for spear fishing and historically as a polearm.
The trident is the weapon of Poseidon, or Neptune, the God of the Sea in classical mythology. The trident may occasionally be held by other marine ...
submarines or the Tornado as the main bearer of its nuclear deterrent
Nuclear strategy involves the development of doctrines and strategies for the production and use of nuclear weapons.
As a sub-branch of military strategy, nuclear strategy attempts to match nuclear weapons as means to political ends. In additi ...
. Although the UK proceeded with Trident, several Tornado squadrons based in Germany were assigned to SACEUR
The Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR) is the commander of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's (NATO) Allied Command Operations (ACO) and head of ACO's headquarters, Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE). The commander is ...
to deter a major Soviet offensive with both conventional and nuclear weapons, namely the WE.177
The WE.177, originally styled as WE 177, and sometimes simply as WE177, was a series of tactical and strategic nuclear weapons with which the Royal Navy (RN) and the Royal Air Force (RAF) were equipped. It was the primary air-dropped nuclear wea ...
nuclear bomb, which was retired in 1998.["Strategic Defence Review 1998: Full Report."](_blank)
''Ministry of Defence'', 1998, p. 24. German and Italian Tornados are capable of delivering US B61 nuclear bomb
The B61 nuclear bomb is the primary thermonuclear gravity bomb in the United States Enduring Stockpile following the end of the Cold War. It is a low to intermediate-yield strategic and tactical nuclear weapon featuring a two-stage radiation imp ...
s, which are made available through NATO.
Engine
Britain considered the selection of Rolls-Royce
Rolls-Royce (always hyphenated) may refer to:
* Rolls-Royce Limited, a British manufacturer of cars and later aero engines, founded in 1906, now defunct
Automobiles
* Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, the current car manufacturing company incorporated in ...
to develop the advanced engine for the MRCA to be essential, and was strongly opposed to adopting an engine from an American manufacturer, to the point where the UK might have withdrawn over the issue. In September 1969, Rolls-Royce's RB199
The Turbo-Union RB199 is a turbofan jet engine designed and built in the early 1970s by Turbo-Union, a joint venture between Rolls-Royce, MTU and Aeritalia. The only production application was the Panavia Tornado.
Design and development
The R ...
engine was selected to power the MRCA. One advantage over the US competition was that a technology transfer
Technology transfer (TT), also called transfer of technology (TOT), is the process of transferring (disseminating) technology from the person or organization that owns or holds it to another person or organization, in an attempt to transform invent ...
between the partner nations had been agreed; the engine was to be developed and manufactured by a joint company, Turbo-Union
Turbo-Union Limited is a joint venture between three European aero-engine manufacturers, FiatAvio (now Avio), MTU Aero Engines and Rolls-Royce.
Products
The company's only product is the RB199, a three-spool turbofan developed specifically for ...
.[Jefford et al. 2002, p. 50.] The programme was delayed by Rolls-Royce's entry into receivership in 1971. however the nature of the multinational collaboration process helped avoid major disruption of the Tornado programme.[Jefford et al. 2002, p. 51.] Research from the supersonic airliner
A supersonic transport (SST) or a supersonic airliner is a civilian supersonic aircraft designed to transport passengers at speeds greater than the speed of sound. To date, the only SSTs to see regular service have been Concorde and the Tupol ...
Concorde
The Aérospatiale/BAC Concorde () is a retired Franco-British supersonic airliner jointly developed and manufactured by Sud Aviation (later Aérospatiale) and the British Aircraft Corporation (BAC).
Studies started in 1954, and France an ...
contributed to the development and final design of the RB199 and of the engine control units.
To operate efficiently across a wide range of conditions and speeds up to Mach 2, the RB199 and several other engines make use of variable intake ramps to control the air flow. The hydraulic system is pressurised by syphoning power from both or either operational engine; the hydraulics are completely contained within the airframe rather than integrating with the engine to improve safety and maintainability. In case of double-engine, or double-generator, failure, the Tornado has a single-use battery capable of operating the fuel pump and hydraulics for up to 13 minutes.
Relatively rarely among fighter aircraft, the RB199 is fitted with thrust reverser
Thrust reversal, also called reverse thrust, is the temporary diversion of an aircraft engine's thrust for it to act against the forward travel of the aircraft, providing deceleration. Thrust reverser systems are featured on many jet aircraft ...
s to decrease the distance required to land safely. To fully deploy the thrust reverser during landings, the yaw damper
A yaw damper (sometimes referred to as a stability augmentation system) is a system used to reduce (or damp) the undesirable tendencies of an aircraft to oscillate in a repetitive rolling and yawing motion, a phenomenon known as the Dutch roll. ...
is connected to the steering of the nosewheel to provide greater stability.
In August 1974, the first RB199 powered flight of a prototype Tornado occurred and the engine completed its qualification tests in late 1978. The final production standard engine met both reliability and performance standards, though the development cost had been higher than predicted, in part due to the ambitious performance requirements. At the time of the Tornado's introduction to service, the of the engine suffered from a shorter life span than desired, which was rectified by the implementation of design revisions upon early-production engines.[Jefford et al. 2002, p. 54.] Several uprated engines were developed and used on both the majority of Tornado ADVs and Germany's Tornado ECRs.[Jefford et al. 2002, p. 55.] The DECU (''Digital Engine Control Unit'') is the current engine control unit for RB199 engines superseding the analogue MECU (''Main Engine Control Unit'') also known as CUE.
Upgrades
Being designed for low-level operations, the Tornado required modification to perform in medium level operations that the RAF adopted in the 1990s. The RAF's GR1 fleet was extensively re-manufactured as Tornado GR4s. Upgrades on Tornado GR4s included a Forward looking infrared
Forward-looking infrared (FLIR) cameras, typically used on military and civilian aircraft, use a thermographic camera that senses infrared radiation.
The sensors installed in forward-looking infrared cameras, as well as those of other thermal ...
, a wide-angle HUD (Head-up display
A head-up display, or heads-up display, also known as a HUD (), is any transparent display that presents data without requiring users to look away from their usual viewpoints. The origin of the name stems from a pilot being able to view informa ...
), improved cockpit
A cockpit or flight deck is the area, usually near the front of an aircraft or spacecraft, from which a Pilot in command, pilot controls the aircraft.
The cockpit of an aircraft contains flight instruments on an instrument panel, and the ...
displays, NVG (Night vision device
A night-vision device (NVD), also known as a night optical/observation device (NOD), night-vision goggle (NVG), is an optoelectronic device that allows visualization of images in low levels of light, improving the user's night vision. The dev ...
s) capabilities, new avionics
Avionics (a blend word, blend of ''aviation'' and ''electronics'') are the Electronics, electronic systems used on aircraft. Avionic systems include communications, Air navigation, navigation, the display and management of multiple systems, ...
, and a Global Positioning System
The Global Positioning System (GPS), originally Navstar GPS, is a satellite-based radionavigation system owned by the United States government and operated by the United States Space Force. It is one of the global navigation satellite sy ...
receiver. The upgrade eased the integration of new weapons and sensors which were purchased in parallel, including the Storm Shadow
Storm Shadow is an Anglo-French low-observable, long-range, air-launched cruise missile developed since 1994 by Matra and British Aerospace, and now manufactured by MBDA. Storm Shadow is the weapon's British appellation. In French service, it is ...
cruise missile
A cruise missile is a guided missile used against terrestrial or naval targets that remains in the atmosphere and flies the major portion of its flight path at approximately constant speed. Cruise missiles are designed to deliver a large warhe ...
, the Brimstone anti-tank missile, Paveway III
Paveway is a series of laser-guided bombs (LGBs).
''Pave'' or PAVE is sometimes used as an acronym for ''precision avionics vectoring equipment''; literally, electronics for controlling the speed and direction of aircraft. Laser guidance is a ...
laser-guided bombs and the RAPTOR
Raptor or RAPTOR may refer to:
Animals
The word "raptor" refers to several groups of bird-like dinosaurs which primarily capture and subdue/kill prey with their talons.
* Raptor (bird) or bird of prey, a bird that primarily hunts and feeds on v ...
reconnaissance pod.["BAE SYSTEMS delivers 100th mid-life upgrade Tornado GR4."]
''BAE Systems,'' 17 October 2001.["Tornado GR4/GR4A."]
''Royal Air Force''. Retrieved: 29 November 2011.[Lake ''World Air Power Journal'' Volume 30, pp. 119–120.] The first flight of a Tornado GR4 was on 4 April 1997. The RAF accepted its first delivery on 31 October 1997 and deliveries were completed in 2003. In 2005, the RSAF opted to have their Tornado IDSs undergo a series of upgrades to become equivalent to the RAF's GR4 configuration. On 21 December 2007 BAE signed a £210m contract for CUSP, the Capability Upgrade Strategy (Pilot). This project would see RAF GR4/4A improved in two phases, starting with the integration of the Paveway IV bomb and a communications upgrade, followed by a new tactical datalink in Phase B.
Beginning in 2000, German IDS and ECR Tornados received the ASSTA 1 (Avionics System Software Tornado in Ada) upgrade. ASSTA 1 involved a replacement weapons computer, new GPS
The Global Positioning System (GPS), originally Navstar GPS, is a Radionavigation-satellite service, satellite-based radionavigation system owned by the United States government and operated by the United States Space Force. It is one of t ...
and Laser Inertial navigation systems. The new computer allowed the integration of the HARM III, HARM 0 Block IV/V and Taurus KEPD 350 missiles, the Rafael Litening II laser designator pod and GBU-24 Paveway III
GBU-24 Paveway III or simply GBU-24 is a family of laser-guided bombs, a sub-group of the larger Raytheon Paveway III family of weapons. The Paveway guidance package consists of a seeker package attached to the nose of the weapon, and a wing kit ...
laser-guided bombs.[Rachow ''Air International'' December 2011, pp. 72–74.] The ASSTA 2 upgrade began in 2005, primarily consisting of several new digital avionics systems and a new ECM suite; these upgrades are to be only applied to 85 Tornados (20 ECRs and 65 IDSs), as the Tornado is being replaced in part by the Eurofighter Typhoon
The Eurofighter Typhoon is a European multinational twin-engine, canard delta wing, multirole fighter. The Typhoon was designed originally as an air-superiority fighter and is manufactured by a consortium of Airbus, BAE Systems and Leonardo ...
.[Rachow ''Air International'' December 2011, p. 74.][Hoyle, Craig]
"German air force starts tests with upgraded Tornado."
''Flight International,'' 14 April 2010. The ASSTA 3 upgrade programme, started in 2008, will introduce support for the laser-targeted Joint Direct Attack Munition
The Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) is a guidance kit that converts unguided bombs, or "dumb bombs", into all-weather precision-guided munitions. JDAM-equipped bombs are guided by an integrated inertial guidance system coupled to a Global Pos ...
along with further software changes.["German Air Force Tornado aircraft get more punch for air-to-surface missions."]
''defpro.com'', 3 December 2009.
In January 2016, ''Bild'' newspaper stated that the newest upgrade of the ASSTA suite to version 3.1, which includes colour multifunctional LCD screens in place of monochrome CRT displays, is interfering with helmet-mounted night-vision optical displays worn by pilots, rendering German Tornado bombers deployed to Syria useless for night missions. The defence ministry admitted that bright cockpit lights could be a distraction for pilots, and said that the solution will be implemented in a few weeks, but denied the need to fly night missions in Syria.
The (iconic) TV TAB displays are used for route planning, the forward-looking infra-red (FLIR) sensors, targeting pods such as TIALD (Thermal Imaging and Laser Designator) and CLDP (Convertible Laser Designator Pod). The original MRCA TV TAB DU navigation display (part number V22.498.90) has green CRT as picture source. The original price for one CRT display version was €33.852,64. Due to the light environment, the picture tube was pushed to the limit due to the high brightness levels causing wear of the picture tube. An ''Active Matrix Liquid Crystal Displays (AMLCD)'' drop fit replacement with a digital screen TV TAB (NSN 5895-99-597-1323) was developed to replace the 'old' wear sensitive CRT versions. The CRT versions are mainly recognisable by the two white domes at the top of the display containing the light sensors for automatic brightness regulation and the white buttons. The newer digital version is mainly recognisable by the black buttons with big white dots on them. The replacement AMLCD version has a color displays instead of the original green monochrome displays. A new feature is that the AMLCD has a bezel that reduces the angle of view. The main goal for the AMLCD upgrade was de intended significant reduction in life cycle costs. But it's said that the newer AMLCD version fail rather quick due to the more sensitive and complex digital electronics compared to the much more simpler design of the original CRT display. The old and newer version are a masterpiece of state of the art engineering and both are very well build. For example there's a diagnose connector at the back panel for quick troubleshooting. The display unit is eventually a rather 'dumb' device. The original display unit is 'just' a display and a keypad. To show a picture, the separated video signal, vertical and horizontal synchronisation signals have to be fed into the display unit since there's no internal electronics for synchronisation separation of the video signal. The additional waveform generator (WFG) is needed to 'create' the desired images for use in the airplane. To power the display unit, a three phase 115VAC 400Hz including neutral and a 28VDC signal have to be supplied to the display unit. The CRT version has a Low Voltage Power Supply (LVPS) for creating the needed low voltage signals. There's also a High Voltage Power Supply (HVPS) for creating the desired high voltage for the CRT picture tube. Since the newer AMLCD has no CRT picture tube, the high voltages are not needed an the mechanical and electrical design is completely different except for the connections, mounting points and functionality. The newer AMLCD version 'only' needs 28VDC for functionality. But since a drop fit replacement is mandatory, the AMLCD version has a built in three phase 115VAC 400Hz conversion to 28VDC. By removing the rear three phase conversion power supply plug-in board and applying 28VDC (<4,1A) to the power supply board, the device can be powered for avionics enthusiast use. The AMLCD has a built in menu for selecting the airplane type: GR1, GR4 or F3, a self test and a display test like a grid pattern and color bars shown in the picture.
BAE Systems announced that, in December 2013, it had test-flown a Tornado equipped with parts made with 3D printing
3D printing or additive manufacturing is the Manufacturing, construction of a three-dimensional object from a computer-aided design, CAD model or a digital 3D modeling, 3D model. It can be done in a variety of processes in which material is ...
equipment. The parts included a protective cover for the radio, a landing-gear guard and air-intake door support struts. The test demonstrated the feasibility of making replacement parts quickly and cheaply at the air base hosting the Tornado. The company claimed that, with some of the parts costing less than £100 to manufacture, 3D printing already resulted in savings of more than £300,000 and would offer further potential cost savings of more than £1.2 million through 2017.
Operational history
German Air Force (''Luftwaffe'')
The first Tornado prototype made its first flight on 14 August 1974 from Ingolstadt Manching Airport
Ingolstadt Manching Airfield, or ''Fliegerhorst Ingolstadt/Manching'' in German , is a military airbase with civil usage located in Manching near Ingolstadt, Germany.
Usage
The airfield is home to the Bundeswehr Technical and Airworthiness Center ...
, in West Germany
West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...
.[Taylor 1975–1976, p. 71.] Deliveries of production Tornados began on 27 July 1979. The total number of Tornados delivered to the German Air Force
The German Air Force (german: Luftwaffe, lit=air weapon or air arm, ) is the aerial warfare branch of the , the armed forces of Germany. The German Air Force (as part of the ''Bundeswehr'') was founded in 1956 during the era of the Cold War a ...
was 247, including 35 ECR variants.[Lake ''World Air Power Journal'' Volume 32, p. 128.] Originally Tornados equipped five fighter-bomber wings (''Geschwader
This is a list of words, terms, concepts, and slogans that have been or are used by the German military. Ranks and translations of nicknames for vehicles are included. Also included are some general terms from the German language found frequently i ...
''), with one tactical conversion unit and four front-line wings, replacing the Lockheed F-104 Starfighter.[Lake ''World Air Power Journal'' Volume 32, pp. 128, 130.] When one of the two Tornado wings of the German Navy was disbanded in 1994, its aircraft were used to re-equip a Luftwaffe's reconnaissance wing formerly equipped with McDonnell Douglas RF-4E Phantoms.[Lake ''World Air Power Journal'' Volume 32, p. 129.]
14 German Tornados undertook combat operations as a part of NATO
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...
's campaign during the Bosnian War
The Bosnian War ( sh, Rat u Bosni i Hercegovini / Рат у Босни и Херцеговини) was an international armed conflict that took place in Bosnia and Herzegovina between 1992 and 1995. The war is commonly seen as having started ...
. The Tornados, operating from Piacenza
Piacenza (; egl, label= Piacentino, Piaṡëinsa ; ) is a city and in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy, and the capital of the eponymous province. As of 2022, Piacenza is the ninth largest city in the region by population, with over ...
, Italy, flew reconnaissance missions to survey damage inflicted by previous strikes and to scout new targets. These reconnaissance missions were reportedly responsible for a significant improvement in target selection throughout the campaign.
In 1999, German Tornados participated in Operation Allied Force
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) carried out an aerial bombing campaign against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia during the Kosovo War. The air strikes lasted from 24 March 1999 to 10 June 1999. The bombings continued until an a ...
, NATO airstrikes against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
Serbia and Montenegro ( sr, Cрбија и Црна Гора, translit=Srbija i Crna Gora) was a country in Southeast Europe located in the Balkans that existed from 1992 to 2006, following the breakup of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yu ...
during the Kosovo War
The Kosovo War was an armed conflict in Kosovo that started 28 February 1998 and lasted until 11 June 1999. It was fought by the forces of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (i.e. Serbia and Montenegro), which controlled Kosovo before the war ...
. This was Germany's first offensive air mission since World War II. The ECR aircraft escorted various allies' aircraft while carrying several AGM-88 HARM
The AGM-88 HARM (High-speed Anti-Radiation Missile) is a tactical, air-to-surface anti-radiation missile designed to home in on electronic transmissions coming from surface-to-air radar systems. It was originally developed by Texas Instruments as ...
missiles to counter attempted use of radar against the allied aircraft. During the Kosovo hostilities, Germany's IDS Tornados routinely conducted reconnaissance flights to identify both enemy ground forces and civilian refugees within Yugoslavia. The German Tornados flew 2108 hours and 446 sorties, firing 236 HARM missiles at hostile targets.
In June 2007, a pair of Luftwaffe Tornados flew reconnaissance missions over an anti-globalisation
The anti-globalization movement or counter-globalization movement, is a social movement critical of economic globalization. The movement is also commonly referred to as the global justice movement, alter-globalization movement, anti-globalist m ...
demonstration during the 33rd G8 summit
The 33rd G8 summit was held at Kempinski Grand Hotel, 6–8 June 2007. The summit took place in Heiligendamm in the Northern German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern on the Baltic Coast. The locations of previous G8 summits to have been hosted by G ...
in Heiligendamm
Heiligendamm () is a German seaside resort founded in 1793.
It is the oldest seaside spa in continental Europe. Heiligendamm is part of the town Bad Doberan in the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and historically belongs to Mecklenburg.
The clus ...
. Following the mission, the German Defence Ministry admitted one aircraft had broken the minimum flying altitude and that mistakes were made in the handling of security of the summit.
In 2007, a detachment of six Tornados of the Aufklärungsgeschwader 51 "Immelmann" (51st reconnaissance wing) were deployed to Mazar-i-Sharif
, official_name =
, settlement_type = City
, image_skyline =
, pushpin_map = Afghanistan#Bactria#West Asia
, pushpin_label = Mazar-i-Sharif
, pushpin ...
, Northern Afghanistan, to support NATO forces. The decision to send Tornados to Afghanistan was controversial: one political party launched an unsuccessful legal bid to block the deployment as unconstitutional. In support of the Afghanistan mission, improvements in the Tornado's reconnaissance equipment were accelerated; enhancing the Tornado's ability to detect hidden improvised explosive device
An improvised explosive device (IED) is a bomb constructed and deployed in ways other than in conventional military action. It may be constructed of conventional military explosives, such as an artillery shell, attached to a detonating mechan ...
s (IEDs). The German Tornados were withdrawn from Afghanistan in November 2010.
Defence cuts announced in March 2003 resulted in the decision to retire 90 Tornados from service with the Luftwaffe. This led to a reduction in its Tornado strength to four wings by September 2005.[List ''Air International'' May 2006, p. 51.] On 13 January 2004, the then German Defence Minister
A defence minister or minister of defence is a cabinet official position in charge of a ministry of defense, which regulates the armed forces in sovereign states. The role of a defence minister varies considerably from country to country; in som ...
Peter Struck announced further major changes to the German armed forces. A major part of this announcement was the plan to cut the German fighter fleet from 426 in early 2004 to 265 by 2015. The German Tornado force was to be reduced to 85, with the type expected to remain in service with the Luftwaffe until 2025. The aircraft being retained have been undergoing a service life extension programme. Currently, the Luftwaffe operates Tornados with Tactical Wings Taktisches Luftwaffengeschwader 33
''Taktisches Luftwaffengeschwader 33'' (Tactical Air Force Wing 33; abbreviated as: ''TaktLwG 33''), formerly known as ''Jagdbombergeschwader 33'' (Fighter-Bomber Wing 33; abbreviated as: ''JaBoG 33'') is a fighter-bomber wing of the German Air Fo ...
in Cochem/Büchel Air Base
Büchel Air Base is a military air base of the Luftwaffe in Büchel (Germany), near the city of Cochem and at about 70 km from Spangdahlem Air Base. It is home to the Taktisches Luftwaffengeschwader 33 (Tactical Air Force Wing 33; abbreviat ...
, Rhineland-Palatinate
Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; german: link=no, Rheinland-Pfalz ; lb, Rheinland-Pfalz ; pfl, Rhoilond-Palz) is a western state of Germany. It covers and has about 4.05 million residents. It is the ninth largest and sixth most populous of the ...
and with Taktisches Luftwaffengeschwader 51
''Taktisches Luftwaffengeschwader 51'' "Immelmann" (Tactical Air Force Wing 51 "Immelmann"), formerly known as ''Aufklärungsgeschwader 51'' (Reconnaissance Wing 51), is a tactical reconnaissance wing of the German Air Force.
In the beginning ...
"Immelmann" in Jagel, Schleswig-Holstein
Schleswig-Holstein (; da, Slesvig-Holsten; nds, Sleswig-Holsteen; frr, Slaswik-Holstiinj) is the northernmost of the 16 states of Germany, comprising most of the historical duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of Sch ...
.
German Tornado aircrew training took place at Holloman Air Force Base
Holloman Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base established in 1942 located six miles (10 km) southwest of the central business district of Alamogordo, and a census-designated place in Otero County, New Mexico, United States. Th ...
in New Mexico, US from January 1996 at the Taktische Ausbildungskommando der Luftwaffe USA (''TaktAusbKdoLw USA'' Tactical Training Command of the Luftwaffe USA) which was responsible for training both German F-4 Phantom and Tornado crews. In 1999 the training command was renamed as Fliegerisches Ausbildungszentrum der Luftwaffe (''FlgAusbZLw'' Luftwaffe Training Center). In March 2015, Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen
Ursula Gertrud von der Leyen (; Albrecht, born 8 October 1958) is a German politician who has been serving as the president of the European Commission since 2019. She served in the Cabinet of Germany, German federal government between 2005 an ...
decided to continue this training in Germany. In September 2017, flight training in Holloman for the Tornado was discontinued and transferred to Taktischen Luftwaffengeschwader 51 in Jagel with the US location command dissolved in 2019.
In April 2020, it was reported that the German defence ministry planned to replace its Tornado aircraft with a purchase of 30 Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet
The Boeing F/A-18E and F/A-18F Super Hornet are twin-engine, carrier-capable, multirole fighter aircraft variants based on the McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet. The F/A-18E single-seat and F/A-18F tandem-seat variants are larger and more adv ...
s, 15 EA-18G Growlers, and 55 Eurofighter Typhoons. The Super Hornet was selected due to its compatibility with nuclear weapons and availability of an electronic attack version. As of March 2020, the Super Hornet is not certified for the B61 nuclear bomb
The B61 nuclear bomb is the primary thermonuclear gravity bomb in the United States Enduring Stockpile following the end of the Cold War. It is a low to intermediate-yield strategic and tactical nuclear weapon featuring a two-stage radiation imp ...
s, but Dan Gillian, head of Boeing's Super Hornet program, has previously stated: "We certainly think that we, working with the U.S. government, can meet the German requirements there on the equiredtimeline."
In 2022, the German defence ministry announced that 35 Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II
The Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II is an American family of single-seat, single-engine, all-weather stealth multirole combat aircraft that is intended to perform both air superiority and strike missions. It is also able to provide ele ...
s will replace the Tornado fleet for nuclear sharing
Nuclear sharing is a concept in NATO's policy of nuclear deterrence, which allows member countries without nuclear weapons of their own to participate in the planning for the use of nuclear weapons by NATO. In particular, it provides for the arm ...
instead of the discussed 30 Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornets.
Airbus offered to replace Luftwaffe's 90 ageing Tornado Interdiction and Strike (IDS) and Electronic Combat Reconnaissance (ECR) aircraft with 85 new Eurofighter Tranche 5 standard from 2030.
The Luftwaffe is reportedly phasing out its Tornados, in favour of fifth generation F-35
The Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II is an American family of single-seat, single-engine, all-weather stealth multirole combat aircraft that is intended to perform both air superiority and strike missions. It is also able to provide elect ...
fighters.
German Navy (''Marineflieger'')
In addition to the order made by the ''Luftwaffe'', the German Navy
The German Navy (, ) is the navy of Germany and part of the unified ''Bundeswehr'' (Federal Defense), the German Armed Forces. The German Navy was originally known as the ''Bundesmarine'' (Federal Navy) from 1956 to 1995, when ''Deutsche Mari ...
's ''Marineflieger
The ''Marinefliegerkommando'' (Naval Aviation Command) is the naval air arm of the German Navy.
History
During the First World War, naval aviators were part of the . After the war Germany was no longer allowed to maintain a military aviation ca ...
'' also received 112 of the IDS variant in the anti-shipping and marine reconnaissance roles, again replacing the Starfighter. These Tornados equipped two wings, each with a nominal strength of 48 aircraft. The principal anti-ship weapon was the AS.34 Kormoran anti-ship missile
An anti-ship missile (AShM) is a guided missile that is designed for use against ships and large boats. Most anti-ship missiles are of the sea skimming variety, and many use a combination of inertial guidance and active radar homing. A good ...
, which were initially supplemented by unguided bombs and BL755
BL755 is a cluster bomb developed by Hunting Aircraft that contains 147 parachute-retarded high explosive anti-tank (HEAT) submunitions. Its primary targets are armoured vehicles and tanks with secondary soft target (anti personnel) capabilitie ...
cluster munition
A cluster munition is a form of air-dropped or ground-launched explosive weapon that releases or ejects smaller submunitions. Commonly, this is a cluster bomb that ejects explosive bomblets that are designed to kill personnel and destroy vehicl ...
s, and later by AGM-88 HARM
The AGM-88 HARM (High-speed Anti-Radiation Missile) is a tactical, air-to-surface anti-radiation missile designed to home in on electronic transmissions coming from surface-to-air radar systems. It was originally developed by Texas Instruments as ...
anti-radar missile
An anti-radiation missile (ARM) is a missile designed to detect and home in on an enemy radio emission source. Typically, these are designed for use against an enemy radar, although jammers and even radios used for communications can also be t ...
s. Pods fitted with panoramic optical cameras and an infrared line scan were carried for the reconnaissance mission.[Lake ''World Air Power Journal'' Volume 32, p. 132.]
The end of the Cold War and the signing of the CFE Treaty
The original Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE) was negotiated and concluded during the last years of the Cold War and established comprehensive limits on key categories of conventional military equipment in Europe (from the Atla ...
led Germany to reduce the size of its armed forces, including the number of combat aircraft. To meet this need, one of the ''Marinefliegers Tornado wings was disbanded on 1 January 1994; its aircraft replaced the Phantoms of a Luftwaffe reconnaissance wing.[Evans 1999, p. 94.][Lake ''World Air Power Journal'' Volume 32, pp. 129, 132.] The second wing was enlarged and continued in the anti-shipping, reconnaissance and anti-radar roles until it was disbanded in 2005 with its aircraft and duties passed on to the Luftwaffe.
Italian Air Force (''Aeronautica Militare'')
The first Italian prototype made its maiden flight on 5 December 1975 from Turin
Turin ( , Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital ...
. The Aeronautica Militare
, colours =
, colours_label =
, march = (Ordinance March of the Air Force) by Alberto Di Miniello
, mascot =
, anniversaries = 28 March ...
received 100 Tornado IDSs (known as the A-200 in Italian service). 16 A-200s were subsequently converted to the ECR configuration; the first Italian Tornado ECR (known as the EA-200) was delivered on 27 February 1998. As a stop-gap measure for 10 years the Aeronautica Militare additionally operated 24 Tornado ADVs in the air defence role, which were leased from the RAF to cover the service gap between the retirement of the Lockheed F-104 Starfighter and the introduction of the Eurofighter Typhoon.[Sacchetti, Renzo. "Italy's British Tornados." '']AirForces Monthly
''Air Forces Monthly'' is a military aviation magazine published by Key Publishing, and based in Stamford, Lincolnshire, United Kingdom. It was established in 1988. It provides news and analysis on military aviation, technology and related topics ...
'', Key Publishing, October 2003.
Italian Tornados, along with RAF Tornados, took part in the first Gulf War
The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Iraq were carried out in two key phases: ...
in 1991. Operation Locusta saw eight Tornado IDS interdictors deployed from Gioia del Colle
Gioia del Colle (; Barese: ) is a town and ''comune'' of the Metropolitan City of Bari, Apulia, southern Italy. The town is located on the Murge plateau at above sea level, between the Adriatic and Ionian Seas. Physical geography Territory ...
, Italy, to Al Dhafra
Al Dhafra FC () is a professional football club based in Madinat Zayed, United Arab Emirates. As of the 2020–21 season they play in the UAE Arabian Gulf League. Their futsal club participated in AFC Futsal Club Championship.
History
Al D ...
, Abu Dhabi
Abu Dhabi (, ; ar, أَبُو ظَبْيٍ ' ) is the capital and second-most populous city (after Dubai) of the United Arab Emirates. It is also the capital of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi and the centre of the Abu Dhabi Metropolitan Area.
...
, as part of Italy's contribution to the coalition. During the conflict, one aircraft was lost to Iraqi anti-aircraft fire; the pilots ejected safely and were captured by Iraqi forces. A total of 22 Italian Tornados were deployed in the NATO-organised Operation Allied Force
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) carried out an aerial bombing campaign against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia during the Kosovo War. The air strikes lasted from 24 March 1999 to 10 June 1999. The bombings continued until an a ...
over Kosovo in 1999; the A-200s served in the bombing role while the EA-200s patrolled the combat region, acting to suppress enemy anti-aircraft radars, firing 115 AGM-88 HARM missiles.
In 2000, with delays to the Eurofighter, the Aeronautica Militare began a search for another interim fighter. While the Tornado was considered, any long term extension to the lease would have involved upgrade to RAF CSP standard and thus was not considered cost effective. In February 2001, Italy announced its arrangement to lease 35 F-16s from the United States under the PEACE CAESAR programme. The Aeronautica Militare returned its Tornado ADVs to the RAF, with the final aircraft arriving at RAF St Athan
Ministry of Defence St Athan or MOD St Athan (Welsh: Maes awyr Sain Tathan), formerly known as RAF St Athan, is a large Ministry of Defence unit near the village of St Athan in the Vale of Glamorgan, southern Wales. It was the designated site for ...
on 7 December 2004. One aircraft was retained for static display purposes at the Italian Air Force Museum
The Italian Air Force Museum is an aircraft museum at Vigna di Valle, on Lake Bracciano (Lazio), in central Italy. It is operated by the . The museum's collection has an emphasis on Italian machines and seaplanes. While maintaining the technical a ...
.
In July 2002, Italy signed a contract with the Tornado Management Agency (NETMA) and Panavia for the upgrading of 18 A-200s, the first of which was received in 2003. The upgrade introduced improved navigation systems (integrated GPS and laser INS) and the ability to carry new weapons, including the Storm Shadow cruise missile, Joint Direct Attack Munition and Paveway III laser-guided bombs.[Niccoli ''Air International'' June 2007, p. 27.]
In response to anticipated violence during the 2010 Afghanistan elections, Italy, along with several other nations, increased its military commitment in Afghanistan, dispatching four A-200 Tornados to the region. Italy has opted to extend the Tornado's service life at the expense of alternative ground-attack aircraft such as the AMX International AMX
The AMX International AMX is a ground-attack aircraft jointly developed by Brazil and Italy. The AMX is designated A-11 Ghibli by the Italian Air Force and A-1 by the Brazilian Air Force. The Italian name, "Ghibli", is taken from the hot dry ...
; in 2010 a major upgrade and life extension programme was initiated, to provide new digital displays, Link 16
Link 16 is a military tactical data link network used by NATO and nations allowed by the MIDS International Program Office (IPO). Its specification is part of the family of Tactical Data Links.
With Link 16, military aircraft as well as ship ...
communications capability, night-vision goggles compatibility, and several other upgrades. In the long term, it is planned to replace the Tornado IDS/ECR fleet in Italian service with the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II
The Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II is an American family of single-seat, single-engine, all-weather stealth multirole combat aircraft that is intended to perform both air superiority and strike missions. It is also able to provide ele ...
, with the final Italian Tornado scheduled to be phased out in 2025.[Niccoli ''Air International'' June 2007, p. 29.] The Aeronautica Militare received its first of an eventual 15 upgraded Tornado EA-200s on 15 June 2013.
Italian Tornado A-200 and EA-200 aircraft participated in the enforcement of a UN no-fly zone during the 2011 military intervention in Libya
On 19 March 2011, a multi-state NATO-led coalition began a military intervention in Libya, to implement United Nations Security Council Resolution 1973, in response to events during the First Libyan Civil War. With ten votes in favour and five ...
. Various coalition aircraft operated from bases in Italy, including RAF Tornados. Italian military aircraft delivered a combined 710 guided bombs and missiles during the strikes against Libyan targets. Of these Aeronautica Militare Tornados and AMX fighter-bombers released 550 guided bombs and missiles, and Italian Navy AV-8Bs delivered 160 guided bombs. Italian Tornados launched 20 to 30 Storm Shadow
Storm Shadow is an Anglo-French low-observable, long-range, air-launched cruise missile developed since 1994 by Matra and British Aerospace, and now manufactured by MBDA. Storm Shadow is the weapon's British appellation. In French service, it is ...
cruise missiles with the rest consisting of Paveway and JDAM guided bombs.
On 19 August 2014, two Aeronautica Militare Tornados collided in mid-air during a training mission near Ascoli Ascoli may refer to:
Places in Italy
*Ascoli Satriano, a town and ''comune'' in the province of Foggia in the Apulia region
*Province of Ascoli Piceno, a province of the Marche region
**Ascoli Piceno, a city which is the seat of the province above
...
. On 14 November 2014, Italy announced it was sending four Tornado aircraft with 135 support staff to Ahmad al-Jaber Air Base
Ahmad al-Jaber Air Base is a Kuwait Air Force base that is home to 3 Kuwait Air Force F/A-18 C/D squadrons: 9 Squadron, 25 Squadron, and 61 Squadron. The base also has an area designated for operations by the U.S. Air Force and its allies.
Hi ...
and to 2 other bases in Kuwait in participation of coalition operations against the Islamic State. The four aircraft will be used for reconnaissance missions only.
In October 2018, it was announced that the EA-200 Tornado had successfully completed operational testing of the AGM-88E AARGM, providing capabilities of an "expanded target set, counter-shutdown capability, advanced signals processing for improved detection and locating, geographic specificity, and a weapon impact-assessment broadcast capability."
Royal Air Force
Nicknamed the "Tonka" by the British, their first prototype (''XX946'') made its maiden flight on 30 October 1974 from BAC Warton. The first full production Tornado GR1 (''ZA319'') flew on 10 July 1979 from Warton. The first RAF Tornados (''ZA320'' and ''ZA322'') were delivered to the TTTE at RAF Cottesmore on 1 July 1980. Crew that qualified from the TTTE went onto the Tornado Weapons Conversion Unit (TWCU), which formed on 1 August 1981 at RAF Honington
Royal Air Force Honington or more simply RAF Honington is a Royal Air Force station located south of Thetford near Ixworth in Suffolk, England. Although used as a bomber station during the Second World War, RAF Honington is now the RAF Regim ...
, before being posted to a front-line squadron. No. IX (B) Squadron became the first front-line squadron in the world to operate the Tornado when it reformed on 1 June 1982, having received its first Tornado GR1 ''ZA586'' on 6 January 1982. No. IX (B) Squadron was declared strike combat ready to the Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR) in January 1983. Two more squadrons were formed at RAF Marham
RAF Marham is a Royal Air Force station and military airbase near the village of Marham in the English county of Norfolk, East Anglia.
It is home to No. 138 Expeditionary Air Wing (138 EAW) and, as such, is one of the RAF's "Main Operating ...
in 1983 – No. 617 Squadron on 1 January and No. 27 Squadron on 12 August. The first RAF Tornado GR1 loss was on 27 September 1983 when ''ZA586'' suffered complete electrical failure and crashed. Navigator Flt. Lt. Nigel Nickles ejected but the pilot Sqn. Ldr. Michael Stephens died in the crash after ordering ejection. In January 1984, the TWCU became No. 45 (Reserve) Squadron.[Napier 2017, p. 34.]
RAF Germany
The former Royal Air Force Germany (RAFG) was a command of the Royal Air Force and part of British Forces Germany. It consisted of units located in Germany, initially as part of the occupation following the Second World War, and later as part ...
(RAFG) began receiving Tornados after the formation of No. XV (Designate) Squadron on 1 September 1983 at RAF Laarbruch
Royal Air Force , more commonly known as RAF ICAO EDUL (from 1 January 1995 ETUL) was a Royal Air Force station, a military airfield, located in Germany on its border with the Netherlands. The Station's motto was ().
The site now operates a ...
followed by No. 16 (Designate) Squadron in January 1984 (who were both Blackburn Buccaneer
The Blackburn Buccaneer is a British carrier-capable attack aircraft designed in the 1950s for the Royal Navy (RN). Designed and initially produced by Blackburn Aircraft at Brough, it was later officially known as the Hawker Siddeley Buccanee ...
squadrons). They were then joined by No. 20 (Designate) Squadron in May 1984 (who were operating the SEPECAT Jaguar GR1 from RAF Brüggen
Royal Air Force Brüggen, more commonly known as RAF Brüggen, in Germany was a major station of the Royal Air Force until 15 June 2001. It was situated next to the village of Elmpt, approximately west of Düsseldorf on the Dutch-German bo ...
). Unlike the Tornado squadrons based in the UK which were under control of the British military, those stationed in RAFG were under the control of SACEUR, with the aircraft on Quick Reaction Alert
Quick Reaction Alert (QRA) is state of readiness and '' modus operandi'' of air defence maintained at all hours of the day by NATO air forces. The United States usually refers to Quick Reaction Alert as 'Airspace Control Alert'.
Some non-NATO c ...
(Nuclear), "QRA (N)", being equipped with the WE.177 nuclear bomb. In the event of the Cold War going 'hot', the majority of RAFG Tornado squadrons were tasked with destroying Warsaw Pact airfields and surface-to-air missile
A surface-to-air missile (SAM), also known as a ground-to-air missile (GTAM) or surface-to-air guided weapon (SAGW), is a missile designed to be launched from the ground to destroy aircraft or other missiles. It is one type of anti-aircraft syst ...
(SAM) sites in East Germany
East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...
. While No. 20 Squadron was given a separate responsibility of destroying bridges over the rivers Elbe
The Elbe (; cs, Labe ; nds, Ilv or ''Elv''; Upper and dsb, Łobjo) is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Giant Mountains of the northern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia (western half of the Czech Repu ...
and Weser
The Weser () is a river of Lower Saxony in north-west Germany. It begins at Hannoversch Münden through the confluence of the Werra and Fulda. It passes through the Hanseatic city of Bremen. Its mouth is further north against the ports of Bre ...
to prevent Warsaw Pact forces from advancing. By early 1985, Nos. XV, 16 and 20 Squadrons at RAF Laarbruch had been declared strike combat ready to SACEUR.
Tornados began to arrive at RAF Brüggen in September 1984 with the formation of No. 31 (Designate) Squadron. No. 17 (Designate) Squadron was formed in December 1984, with the two Brüggen squadrons joined by No. 14 (Designate) Squadron in mid-1985. No. IX (B) Squadron relocated from RAF Honington to RAF Brüggen on 1 October 1986, arriving in a diamond nine formation. The outcome of the Reykjavík Summit
The Reykjavík Summit was a summit meeting between U.S. President Ronald Reagan and General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev, held in Reykjavík, Iceland, on 11–12 October 1986. The talks collapsed at the l ...
in October 1986 between Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...
and Mikhail Gorbachev
Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev (2 March 1931 – 30 August 2022) was a Soviet politician who served as the 8th and final leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 to dissolution of the Soviet Union, the country's dissolution in 1991. He served a ...
led the end of QRA (Nuclear) for the Tornado force. By the end of 1986, the Tornado GR1 fleet had been equipped with a Laser Ranger and Marked Target Seeker (LRMTS) under the nose, and had begun to be equipped with the BOZ-107 chaff and flare dispenser.
The Tornado made its combat debut as part of Operation Granby
Operation Granby, commonly abbreviated Op Granby, was the code name given to the British military operations during the 1991 Gulf War. 53,462 members of the British Armed Forces were deployed during the conflict. The total cost of operations wa ...
, the British contribution to the Gulf War
The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Iraq were carried out in two key phases: ...
in 1991. This saw 49 RAF Tornado GR1s deploy to Muharraq Airfield
Muharraq Airfield is a military base located adjacent to Bahrain International Airport. It is run by the United States Navy (USN) and usually ships supplies in and out of the airport with many of them from other countries as well. The USN, the Uni ...
in Bahrain and to Tabuk Air Base and Dhahran Airfield
King Abdulaziz Air Base () , also known as Dhahran Air Base and formerly Dhahran International Airport, Dhahran Airport and Dhahran Airfield, is a Royal Saudi Air Force base located in Dhahran in the Eastern Province, Saudi Arabia. Located west ...
in Saudi Arabia. 18 Tornado F3s were deployed to provide air cover, the threat of their long range missiles being a deterrent to Iraqi pilots, who would avoid combat when approached.[ Early on in the conflict, the GR1s targeted military airfields across Iraq, deploying a mixture of ]unguided bombs
An unguided bomb, also known as a free-fall bomb, gravity bomb, dumb bomb, or iron bomb, is a conventional or nuclear aircraft-delivered bomb that does not contain a guidance system and hence simply follows a ballistic trajectory. This describe ...
in loft-bombing attacks and specialised JP233
Originally known as the LAAAS (Low-Altitude Airfield Attack System), the JP233 is a British submunition delivery system consisting of large dispenser pods carrying several hundred submunitions designed to attack runways.
Design and development
D ...
runway denial weapons. On 17 January 1991, the first Tornado to be lost was shot down by an Iraqi SA-16
The 9K38 Igla (russian: Игла́, "needle", NATO reporting name SA-18 Grouse) is a Russian/Soviet
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of E ...
missile following a failed low-level bombing run. On 19 January, another RAF Tornado was shot down during an intensive raid on Tallil Air Base
Nasiriyah Airport is a public and military airport located 23 km (14 mi) southwest of Nasiriyah, Iraq.
It is also known as Tallil Air Base until December 2011 and Imam Ali Air Base until March 2017, when the base was used by United ...
. The impact of the Tornado strikes upon Iraqi airfields is difficult to determine. A total of six RAF Tornados were lost in the conflict, four while delivering unguided bombs, one after delivering JP233
Originally known as the LAAAS (Low-Altitude Airfield Attack System), the JP233 is a British submunition delivery system consisting of large dispenser pods carrying several hundred submunitions designed to attack runways.
Design and development
D ...
, and one trying to deliver laser-guided bombs.
The UK sent a detachment of Blackburn Buccaneer
The Blackburn Buccaneer is a British carrier-capable attack aircraft designed in the 1950s for the Royal Navy (RN). Designed and initially produced by Blackburn Aircraft at Brough, it was later officially known as the Hawker Siddeley Buccanee ...
aircraft equipped with Westinghouse Electric Corporation
The Westinghouse Electric Corporation was an American manufacturing company founded in 1886 by George Westinghouse. It was originally named "Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company" and was renamed "Westinghouse Electric Corporation" in ...
Pave Spike
The Westinghouse AN/ASQ-153\AN/AVQ-23 Pave Spike is an electro-optical laser designator targeting pod used to direct laser-guided bombs to target in daylight, visual conditions. It contained a laser boresighted to a television camera, which disp ...
laser designators, allowing Tornado GR1s to drop precision guided weapons guided by the Buccaneers. A planned programme to fit GR1s with the GEC-Marconi TIALD
The Thermal Imaging Airborne Laser Designator (TIALD) was a targeting pod manufactured by Ferranti/ GEC Marconi in the late 1980s and 1990s, and was the UK's primary laser designator for its Paveway series of laser-guided bombs (LGBs).
History
T ...
laser designation system was rapidly accelerated to give the Tornado force the ability to self-designate targets. Author Claus-Christian Szejnmann declared that the TIALD pod enabled the GR1 to "achieve probably the most accurate bombing in the RAF's history".[Evans 1999, pp. 66–68.] Although laser designation proved effective in the Gulf War, only 23 TIALD pods had been purchased by 2000; shortages hindered combat operations over Kosovo.
After the war's opening phase, the GR1s switched to medium-level strike missions; typical targets included munition depots and oil refineries. Only the reconnaissance Tornado GR1As continued flying the low-altitude high-speed profile, emerging unscathed despite the inherent danger in conducting pre-attack reconnaissance. After the conflict, Britain maintained a military presence in the Gulf. Around six GR1s were based at Ali Al Salem airbase in Kuwait, contributing the southern no-fly zone as part of Operation Southern Watch
Operation Southern Watch was an air-centric military operation conducted by the United States Department of Defense from Summer 1992 to Spring 2003.
United States Central Command's Joint Task Force Southwest Asia (JTF-SWA) had the mission of mon ...
. Six additional GR1s participated in Operation Provide Comfort
Operation Provide Comfort and Provide Comfort II were military operations initiated by the United States and other Coalition nations of the Persian Gulf War, starting in April 1991, to defend Kurdish refugees fleeing their homes in northern ...
over Northern Iraq.
The upgraded Tornado GR4 made its operational debut in Operation Southern Watch
Operation Southern Watch was an air-centric military operation conducted by the United States Department of Defense from Summer 1992 to Spring 2003.
United States Central Command's Joint Task Force Southwest Asia (JTF-SWA) had the mission of mon ...
; patrolling Iraq's southern airspace from bases in Kuwait
Kuwait (; ar, الكويت ', or ), officially the State of Kuwait ( ar, دولة الكويت '), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated in the northern edge of Eastern Arabia at the tip of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to the nort ...
. Both Tornado GR1s and GR4s based at Ali Al Salem, Kuwait, took part in coalition strikes at Iraq's military infrastructure during Operation Desert Fox
The 1998 bombing of Iraq (code-named Operation Desert Fox) was a major four-day bombing campaign on Iraqi targets from 16 to 19 December 1998, by the United States and the United Kingdom. On 16 December 1998, President of the United States Bill ...
in 1998. In December 1998, an Iraqi anti-aircraft battery fired six to eight missiles at a patrolling Tornado. The battery was later attacked in retaliation, and no aircraft were lost during the incident. It was reported that during Desert Fox RAF Tornados had successfully destroyed 75% of their targets, and out of the 36 missions planned, 28 had been successfully completed.
The GR1 participated in the Kosovo War
The Kosovo War was an armed conflict in Kosovo that started 28 February 1998 and lasted until 11 June 1999. It was fought by the forces of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (i.e. Serbia and Montenegro), which controlled Kosovo before the war ...
in 1999. Tornados initially operated from RAF Brüggen
Royal Air Force Brüggen, more commonly known as RAF Brüggen, in Germany was a major station of the Royal Air Force until 15 June 2001. It was situated next to the village of Elmpt, approximately west of Düsseldorf on the Dutch-German bo ...
, Germany and later from Solenzara Air Base
Air Base 126 Solenzara (french: Base aérienne 126 Solenzara) is a French Air and Space Force (Armée de l'air et de l'espace) (ALAE) base located in the village of Ventiseri approximately 40 km north-northeast of Porto-Vecchio on Corsica.
I ...
, Corsica
Corsica ( , Upper , Southern ; it, Corsica; ; french: Corse ; lij, Còrsega; sc, Còssiga) is an island in the Mediterranean Sea and one of the 18 regions of France. It is the fourth-largest island in the Mediterranean and lies southeast of ...
. Experiences from Kosovo led to the RAF procuring AGM-65 Maverick
The AGM-65 Maverick is an air-to-ground missile (AGM) designed for close air support. It is the most widely produced precision-guided missile in the Western world, and is effective against a wide range of tactical targets, including armor, air ...
missiles and Enhanced Paveway
Paveway is a series of laser-guided bombs (LGBs).
''Pave'' or PAVE is sometimes used as an acronym for ''precision avionics vectoring equipment''; literally, electronics for controlling the speed and direction of aircraft. Laser guidance is a ...
smart bomb
Smart or SMART may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* ''Smart'' (Hey! Say! JUMP album), 2014
* Smart (Hotels.com), former mascot of Hotels.com
* ''Smart'' (Sleeper album), 1995 debut album by Sleeper
* ''SMart'', a children's television seri ...
s for the Tornado. Following the Kosovo War, the GR1 was phased out as aircraft were upgraded to GR4 standard; the final upgrade was returned to the RAF on 10 June 2003.
The GR4 was used in Operation Telic
Operation Telic (Op TELIC) was the codename under which all of the United Kingdom's military operations in Iraq were conducted between the start of the invasion of Iraq on 19 March 2003 and the withdrawal of the last remaining British forces on ...
, Britain's contribution to the 2003 invasion of Iraq
The 2003 invasion of Iraq was a United States-led invasion of the Republic of Iraq and the first stage of the Iraq War. The invasion phase began on 19 March 2003 (air) and 20 March 2003 (ground) and lasted just over one month, including 26 ...
. RAF Tornados flew alongside American aircraft in the opening phase of the war, striking Iraqi targets. Aiming to minimise civilian casualties, Tornados deployed the Storm Shadow cruise missile
A cruise missile is a guided missile used against terrestrial or naval targets that remains in the atmosphere and flies the major portion of its flight path at approximately constant speed. Cruise missiles are designed to deliver a large warhe ...
for the first time. Whilst 25% of the UK's air-launched weapons in Kosovo were precision-guided, four years later in Iraq this ratio increased to 85%.
On 23 March 2003, a Tornado GR4 was shot down over Iraq by friendly fire
In military terminology, friendly fire or fratricide is an attack by belligerent or neutral forces on friendly troops while attempting to attack enemy/hostile targets. Examples include misidentifying the target as hostile, cross-fire while eng ...
from a US Patriot missile
The MIM-104 Patriot is a surface-to-air missile (SAM) system, the primary of its kind used by the United States Army and several allied states. It is manufactured by the U.S. defense contractor Raytheon and derives its name from the radar compon ...
battery, killing both crew members. In July 2003, a US board of inquiry exonerated the battery's operators, observing the Tornado's "lack of functioning IFF (Identification Friend or Foe
Identification, friend or foe (IFF) is an identification system designed for command and control. It uses a transponder that listens for an ''interrogation'' signal and then sends a ''response'' that identifies the broadcaster. IFF systems usual ...
)" as a factor in the incident. Problems with Patriot were also suggested as a factor, multiple incidents of mis-identification of friendly aircraft have occurred, including the fatal shootdown of a US Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage of ...
F/A-18 a few weeks after the Tornado's loss. Britain withdrew the last of its Tornados from Iraq in June 2009.
In early 2009, several GR4s arrived at Kandahar Airfield
Ahmad Shah Baba International Airport, also referred to as Kandahar International Airport ( ps, د کندهار نړيوال هوايي ډګر) and by some military officials as Kandahar Airfield, KAF) , is located about south-east of the city Ka ...
, Afghanistan to replace the British Aerospace Harrier GR7/9 aircraft which had been deployed there since November 2004. In 2009, Paveway IV
Paveway IV is a dual mode GPS/INS and laser-guided bomb manufactured by Raytheon UK (formerly Raytheon Systems Limited). It is the latest iteration of the Paveway series.
The weapon is a guidance kit based on the existing Enhanced Paveway II E ...
guided bombs were brought into service on the RAF's Tornados, having been previously used in Afghanistan by the Harrier II. In Summer 2010, extra Tornados were dispatched to Kandahar for the duration of the 2010 Afghan election. British Tornados ended operations in Afghanistan in November 2014, having flown over 5,000 pairs sorties over 33,500 hours, including 600 "shows of force" to deter Taliban attacks. During more than 70 engagements, 140 Brimstone missiles and Paveway IV bombs were deployed, and over 3,000 27 mm cannon shells fired.
Prior to the 2010 Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR)'s publication, the Tornado's retirement was under consideration with savings of £7.5 billion anticipated. The SDSR announced the Tornado would be retained at the expense of the Harrier II, although numbers would decline in the transition to the Eurofighter Typhoon and the F-35 Lightning II
The Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II is an American family of single-seat, single-engine, all-weather stealth multirole combat aircraft that is intended to perform both air superiority and strike missions. It is also able to provide ele ...
. By July 2013, 59 RAF GR4s were receiving the CUSP avionics upgrade, which achieved Initial Service Date (ISD) in March 2013.
On 18 March 2011, British Prime Minister David Cameron
David William Donald Cameron (born 9 October 1966) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2016 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2005 to 2016. He previously served as Leader o ...
announced that Tornados and Typhoon
A typhoon is a mature tropical cyclone that develops between 180° and 100°E in the Northern Hemisphere. This region is referred to as the Northwestern Pacific Basin, and is the most active tropical cyclone basin on Earth, accounting for a ...
s would enforce a no-fly zone in Libya. In March 2011, several Tornados flew strike missions against targets inside Libya in what were, according to Defence Secretary Liam Fox
Liam Fox (born 22 September 1961) is a British politician who served as Secretary of State for International Trade from 2016 to 2019 and Secretary of State for Defence from 2010 to 2011. A member of the Conservative Party, Fox has served as th ...
, "the longest range bombing mission conducted by the RAF since the Falklands conflict".["Libya: British missiles fired at military sites."]
''BBC News'', 20 March 2011. A variety of munitions were used during Tornado operations over Libya, including laser-guided bombs and Brimstone missiles.
In August 2014, Tornado GR4s were deployed to RAF Akrotiri
RAF Akrotiri ( el, Βασιλική Πολεμική Αεροπορία Ακρωτηρίου) is a large Royal Air Force base on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus. It is located in the Western Sovereign Base Area, one of two areas which compr ...
, Cyprus to support refugees sheltering from Islamic State militants in the Mount Sinjar
The Sinjar Mountains ( ku, چیایێ شنگالێ, translit=Çiyayê Şingalê, ar, جبل سنجار, translit=Jabal Sinjār, syr, ܛܘܪܐ ܕܫܝܓܪ, Ṭura d'Shingar,) are a mountain range that runs east to west, rising above the surroundi ...
region of Iraq. The decision came three days after the United States began conducting air attacks against the Islamic State. Tornados were pre-positioned to gather situational awareness in the region. On 27 September 2014, after Parliament approved airstrikes against Islamic State forces inside Iraq, two Tornados conducted their first armed reconnaissance mission in conjunction with coalition aircraft. The next day, two Tornados made the first airstrike on a heavy weapons post and an armoured vehicle, supporting Kurdish forces in northwest Iraq.
By 1 March 2015, eight RAF Tornados had been deployed to Akrotiri and conducted 159 airstrikes against IS targets in Iraq. On 2 December 2015, Parliament approved air strikes in Syria as well as Iraq to combat the growing threat of ISIL
An Islamic state is a state that has a form of government based on Islamic law (sharia). As a term, it has been used to describe various historical polities and theories of governance in the Islamic world. As a translation of the Arabic term ...
; Tornados began bombing that evening. On 14 April 2018, four Tornado GR4s from RAF Akrotiri struck a Syrian military facility with Storm Shadow
Storm Shadow is an Anglo-French low-observable, long-range, air-launched cruise missile developed since 1994 by Matra and British Aerospace, and now manufactured by MBDA. Storm Shadow is the weapon's British appellation. In French service, it is ...
cruise missiles in response to a suspected chemical attack
Chemical warfare (CW) involves using the toxic properties of chemical substances as weapons. This type of warfare is distinct from nuclear warfare, biological warfare and radiological warfare, which together make up CBRN, the military acronym ...
on Douma by the Syrian regime the previous week.
On 10 July 2018, nine Tornado GR4s from RAF Marham flew over London to celebrate 100 years of the RAF. During late 2018, the RAF commemorated the Tornado's service with three special schemes: ''ZG752'' paid homage to its early years with a green/grey wraparound camouflage; ''ZG775'' and ''ZD716'' both wore schemes commemorating the final units to operate the type – No. IX (B) Squadron and No. 31 Squadron respectively. On 31 January 2019, the Tornado GR4 flew its last operational sorties in Operation Shader
Operation Shader is the operational code name given to the contribution of the United Kingdom in the ongoing military intervention against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. The operation involves the British Army providing ground s ...
. The eight Tornados formerly stationed at RAF Akrotiri returned to RAF Marham in early February 2019, their duties assumed by six Typhoons. Between September 2014 and January 2019, RAF Tornados accounted for 31% of the estimated 4,315 casualties inflicted upon ISIL by the RAF during the operation.
To celebrate 40 years of service and to mark the type's retirement, several flypasts were carried out on 19, 20 and 21 February 2019 over locations such as BAE Warton, RAF Honington and RAF Lossiemouth. On 28 February, nine Tornados flew out of RAF Marham for a diamond nine formation flypast over a graduation parade at RAF Cranwell
Royal Air Force Cranwell or more simply RAF Cranwell is a Royal Air Force station in Lincolnshire, England, close to the village of Cranwell, near Sleaford. Among other functions, it is home to the Royal Air Force College (RAFC), which trai ...
before returning and carrying out a series of passes over RAF Marham. On 14 March 2019 the final flight of an RAF Tornado was carried out by Tornado GR4 ''ZA463'', the oldest remaining Tornado, over RAF Marham during the disbandment parade of No. IX (B) Squadron and No. 31 Squadron. The Tornado GR4 was officially retired from RAF service on 1 April 2019, the 101st anniversary of the force. Post-retirement, five Tornados returned to RAF Honington via road for the Complex Air Ground Environment (CAGE), which simulates a Tornado flight line for training purposes.
Royal Saudi Air Force
On 25 September 1985, the UK and Saudi Arabia signed the Al Yamamah I contract including the sale of 48 IDS and 24 ADV model Tornados. The first flight of a Royal Saudi Air Force
The Royal Saudi Air Force ( ar, الْقُوَّاتُ الْجَوِّيَّةُ الْمَلَكِيَّةْ ٱلسُّعُوْدِيَّة, Al-Quwwat Al-Jawiyah Al-Malakiyah as-Su’udiyah) (RSAF) is the aviation branch of the Saudi Arabia ...
Tornado IDS was on 26 March 1986, and the first Saudi ADV was delivered on 9 February 1989. Saudi Tornados took part in the Gulf War. In June 1993 the Al Yamamah II contract was signed, the main element of which was 48 additional IDSs.
Following experience with both the Tornado and the McDonnell Douglas F-15E Strike Eagle
The McDonnell Douglas (now Boeing) F-15E Strike Eagle is an American all-weather multirole strike fighter derived from the McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle. The F-15E was designed in the 1980s for long-range, high-speed interdiction without relyi ...
, the RSAF discontinued low-level mission training in the F-15E in light of the Tornado's superior low-altitude flight performance.[ Ten of the Saudi Tornados were fitted with equipment for performing reconnaissance missions. The 22 Tornado ADVs were replaced by the Eurofighter Typhoon; the retired aircraft were purchased back by the UK.
By 2007, both the ]Sea Eagle
A sea eagle or fish eagle (also called erne or ern, mostly in reference to the white-tailed eagle) is any of the birds of prey in the genus ''Haliaeetus'' in the bird of prey family Accipitridae.
Taxonomy and evolution
The genus ''Haliaeetus'' ...
anti-ship missile and the ALARM
An alarm device is a mechanism that gives an audible, visual or other kind of alarm signal to alert someone to a problem or condition that requires urgent attention.
Alphabetical musical instruments
Etymology
The word ''alarm'' comes from th ...
anti-radiation missile
An anti-radiation missile (ARM) is a missile designed to detect and home in on an enemy radio emission source. Typically, these are designed for use against an enemy radar, although jammers and even radios used for communications can also be t ...
that previously equipped the RSAF's Tornados had been withdrawn from service.[Cordesman 2007, p. 210.] As of 2010, Saudi Arabia has signed several contracts for new weapon systems to be fitted to their Tornado and Typhoon fleets, such as the short range air-to-air IRIS-T
The IRIS-T ("thermography, InfraRed Imaging System Tail/thrust vectoring, Thrust Vector-Controlled") is a medium range infrared homing missile available in both air-to-air missile, air-to-air and ground defence surface-to-air missile, surface- ...
missile, and the Brimstone and Storm Shadow missiles.
In September 2006, the Saudi government signed a contract worth £2.5 billion (US$4.7 billion) with BAE Systems
BAE Systems plc (BAE) is a British multinational arms, security, and aerospace company based in London, England. It is the largest defence contractor in Europe, and ranked the seventh-largest in the world based on applicable 2021 revenues. ...
to upgrade up to 80 RSAF Tornado IDS aircraft to keep them in service until 2020. The first RSAF Tornado was returned to BAE Systems Warton in December 2006 for upgrade under the "Tornado Sustainment Programme" (TSP) to "equip the IDS fleet with a range of new precision-guided weapons and enhanced targeting equipment, in many cases common with those systems already fielded by the UK's Tornado GR4s."[Hoyle, Craig]
"Saudi Arabia reveals progress of Tornado upgrade."
''Flight International,'' 18 September 2007. In December 2007, the first RSAF aircraft to complete modernisation was returned to Saudi Arabia.
Starting from the first week of November 2009, RSAF Tornados, along with Saudi F-15s performed air raids during the Shia insurgency in north Yemen. It was the first time since Operation Desert Storm
Operation or Operations may refer to:
Arts, entertainment and media
* ''Operation'' (game), a battery-operated board game that challenges dexterity
* Operation (music), a term used in musical set theory
* ''Operations'' (magazine), Multi-Man ...
in 1991 that the RSAF had participated in a military operation over hostile territory. RSAF Tornados are playing a central role in Saudi-led bombing campaign in Yemen.
On 7 January 2018, Houthi fighters claimed to have shot down a Saudi warplane which was conducting air-raids over northern Yemen. According to Saudi reports, the downed aircraft was an RSAF Tornado which was on a combat mission over Saada province in northern Yemen, it was lost for 'technical reasons' and both crew were rescued.
On 12 July 2018, another RSAF Tornado crashed in Asir region after returning from Saada, Yemen due to a technical malfunction. On 14 February 2020, a Saudi Tornado was shot down during close air support
In military tactics, close air support (CAS) is defined as air action such as air strikes by fixed or rotary-winged aircraft against hostile targets near friendly forces and require detailed integration of each air mission with fire and moveme ...
mission in support of Saudi allied Yemeni forces in the Yemeni Al Jouf governorate by Houthis. On the day after, the Saudi command confirmed the loss of a Tornado, while a video was released showing the downing using a two-stage surface to air missile. Both pilots ejected and were captured by Houthis.
Variants
Tornado IDS
;Tornado GR1
RAF IDS (interdictor/strike) variants were initially designated the Tornado GR1
The Panavia Tornado is a family of twin-engine, variable-sweep wing multirole combat aircraft, jointly developed and manufactured by Italy, the United Kingdom and West Germany. There are three primary Tornado variants: the Tornado IDS (inter ...
with later modified aircraft designated Tornado GR1A, Tornado GR1B, Tornado GR4 and Tornado GR4A. The first of 228 GR1s was delivered on 5 June 1979, and the type entered service in the early 1980s.
;Tornado GR1B
The Tornado GR1B was a specialised anti-shipping variant of the GR1, replacing the Blackburn Buccaneer
The Blackburn Buccaneer is a British carrier-capable attack aircraft designed in the 1950s for the Royal Navy (RN). Designed and initially produced by Blackburn Aircraft at Brough, it was later officially known as the Hawker Siddeley Buccanee ...
. 26 aircraft were converted and were based at RAF Lossiemouth
Royal Air Force Lossiemouth or more commonly RAF Lossiemouth is a military airfield located on the western edge of the town of Lossiemouth in Moray, north-east Scotland.
Lossiemouth is one of the largest and busiest fast-jet stations in the ...
, Scotland.[Lake ''World Air Power Journal'' Volume 30, p. 117.] Each aircraft was equipped to carry up to four Sea Eagle
A sea eagle or fish eagle (also called erne or ern, mostly in reference to the white-tailed eagle) is any of the birds of prey in the genus ''Haliaeetus'' in the bird of prey family Accipitridae.
Taxonomy and evolution
The genus ''Haliaeetus'' ...
anti-ship missiles. At first the GR1B lacked the radar capability to track shipping, instead relying on the missile's seeker for target acquisition; later updates allowed target data to be passed from aircraft to missile.[Donald ''World Air Power Journal'' Volume 33, p. 105.]
;Tornado GR1P
A single Tornado GR1 (ZA326, the eighth production aircraft) was re-designated GR1P after being partially rebuilt using parts from different production batches following a fire during engine testing. This aircraft served with the Royal Aircraft Establishment
The Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE) was a British research establishment, known by several different names during its history, that eventually came under the aegis of the Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom), UK Ministry of Defence (MoD), bef ...
and the Empire Test Pilot's School
The Empire Test Pilots' School (ETPS) is a British training school for test pilots and flight test engineers of fixed-wing and rotary-wing aircraft at MoD Boscombe Down in Wiltshire, England. It was established in 1943, the first of its type. T ...
until 2005, when it was retired, being the last GR1 in service anywhere in the world.
;Tornado GR4
The UK Ministry of Defence
{{unsourced, date=February 2021
A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in states ...
began studies for a GR1 Mid-Life Update (MLU) in 1984. The update to GR4 standard, approved in 1994, would improve capability in the medium-altitude role based on lessons learned from the GR1's performance in the 1991 Gulf War. British Aerospace (later BAE Systems) upgraded 142 Tornado GR1s to GR4 standard, beginning in 1996 and finished in 2003.[ 59 RAF aircraft later received the CUSP avionics package which integrated the Paveway IV bomb and installed a new secure communications module from Cassidian in Phase A,] followed by the Tactical Information Exchange (TIE) datalink from General Dynamics in Phase B.
;Tornado GR1A/GR4A
The GR1A is the reconnaissance variant operated by the RAF and RSAF, fitted with the TIRRS (Tornado Infra-Red Reconnaissance System), replacing the cannon.[Evans 1999, pp. 98–99.] The RAF ordered 30 GR1As, 14 as GR1 rebuilds and 16 new aircraft.[Evans 1999, p. 97.] When the Tornado GR1s were upgraded to become GR4s, GR1A aircraft were upgraded to GR4A standard.[Lake ''Air International'' April 2008, p. 24.] The switch from low-level operations to medium/high-level operations means that the internal TIRRS was no longer used.[Lake ''Air International'' April 2008, p. 28.] As the GR4A's internal sensors are no longer essential, the RAF's Tactical Reconnaissance Wing operated both GR4A and GR4 aircraft.
Tornado ECR
Operated by Germany and Italy, the ECR (Electronic Combat / Reconnaissance) is a Tornado variant devoted to Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses (SEAD) missions. It was first delivered on 21 May 1990. The ECR has sensors to detect radar usage and is equipped with anti-radiation AGM-88 HARM
The AGM-88 HARM (High-speed Anti-Radiation Missile) is a tactical, air-to-surface anti-radiation missile designed to home in on electronic transmissions coming from surface-to-air radar systems. It was originally developed by Texas Instruments as ...
missiles.[ The Luftwaffe's 35 ECRs were delivered new, while Italy received 16 converted IDSs. Italian Tornado ECRs differ from the Luftwaffe aircraft as they lack built-in reconnaissance capability and use RecceLite reconnaissance pods. Only Luftwaffe ECRs are equipped with the RB199 Mk.105 engine, which has a higher thrust rating.][Jackson et al. 1998, p. 241.] The German ECRs do not carry a cannon. The RAF used the IDS version in the SEAD role instead of the ECR and also modified several of its Tornado F.3s to undertake the mission.
Tornado ADV
The Tornado ADV (air defence variant) was an interceptor
Interceptor may refer to:
Vehicles
* Interceptor aircraft (or simply "interceptor"), a type of point defense fighter aircraft designed specifically to intercept and destroy enemy aircraft
* Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptor, a police car
* ...
variant of the Tornado, developed for the RAF (designated Tornado F2 or F3) and also operated by Saudi Arabia and Italy. The ADV had inferior agility to fighters like the McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle
The McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle is an American twin-engine, all-weather tactical fighter aircraft designed by McDonnell Douglas (now part of Boeing). Following reviews of proposals, the United States Air Force selected McDonnell Douglas's ...
, but was not intended as a dogfighter, rather as a long-endurance interceptor to counter the threat from Cold War bombers.[Eagles 1991, p. 88.] Although the ADV had 80% parts commonality with the Tornado IDS, the ADV had greater acceleration, improved RB199 Mk.104 engines, a stretched body, greater fuel capacity, the AI.24 Foxhunter radar, and software changes. It had only one cannon to accommodate a retractable inflight refuelling probe.[Eagles 1991, pp. 88–91.][
]
Operators
;
* Luftwaffe
The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German ''Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabtei ...
: 210 IDS and 35 ECR Tornados delivered. By December 2018, 94 IDS and 28 ECR aircraft remained in service.
* Marineflieger
The ''Marinefliegerkommando'' (Naval Aviation Command) is the naval air arm of the German Navy.
History
During the First World War, naval aviators were part of the . After the war Germany was no longer allowed to maintain a military aviation ca ...
: 112 IDS Tornados delivered, retired in June 2005 with some aircraft being reallocated to the Luftwaffe.
;
* Aeronautica Militare
, colours =
, colours_label =
, march = (Ordinance March of the Air Force) by Alberto Di Miniello
, mascot =
, anniversaries = 28 March ...
: 100 IDS A-200 Tornados delivered (18 converted to ECR EA-200s), 24 ADV F3 aircraft later leased from the RAF between 1995 and 2004. By December 2018, 70 A-200 and 5 EA-200 aircraft remained in service.
;
* Royal Saudi Air Force
The Royal Saudi Air Force ( ar, الْقُوَّاتُ الْجَوِّيَّةُ الْمَلَكِيَّةْ ٱلسُّعُوْدِيَّة, Al-Quwwat Al-Jawiyah Al-Malakiyah as-Su’udiyah) (RSAF) is the aviation branch of the Saudi Arabia ...
: 96 IDS and 24 ADV Tornados delivered, ADVs retired in 2006. By December 2018, 81 IDS aircraft remained in service.
Former operator
;
* Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...
: 385 IDS GR1 and ADV F2/F3 Tornados delivered, including 230 GR1s (142 later upgraded to GR4s), 18 F2s and 147 F3s (retired in 2011). GR4 was retired on 1 April 2019.
Aircraft on display
;Australia
* ''ZG791'' Tornado GR4 on display at Aviation Heritage Museum, Bull Creek, Western Australia
Bull Creek is a suburb of Perth, Western Australia, located within the local government area of City of Melville. The suburb lies to the south of a creek of the same name, which flows into the Canning River.
History
Prior to European settlemen ...
.
;Austria
* ''44+66'' Tornado IDS on display at Groß-Siegharts
Groß-Siegharts is a municipality in the district of Waidhofen an der Thaya in the Austrian state of Lower Austria
Lower Austria (german: Niederösterreich; Austro-Bavarian: ''Niedaöstareich'', ''Niedaestareich'') is one of the nine states of Au ...
, Lower Austria
Lower Austria (german: Niederösterreich; Austro-Bavarian: ''Niedaöstareich'', ''Niedaestareich'') is one of the nine states of Austria, located in the northeastern corner of the country. Since 1986, the capital of Lower Austria has been Sankt P ...
.
;Bulgaria
* ''44+13'' Tornado IDS on display at the National Museum of Military History, Sofia.
;Estonia
* ''ZE256'' Tornado F3 on display at the Estonian Aviation Museum
The Estonian Aviation Museum is located in Lange near Tartu in Estonia. It is the only aviation museum in the country.
The museum was founded in December 1999 in accordance with a private initiative procedure and officially opened to the public ...
, Lange.
;Germany
* ''D-9591'' Tornado Prototype P.01 on display at Militärhistorisches Museum Flugplatz Berlin-Gatow
The Militärhistorisches Museum der Bundeswehr – Flugplatz Berlin-Gatow (''Bundeswehr Museum of Military History – Berlin-Gatow Airfield''; formally known as ''Luftwaffenmuseum der Bundeswehr''), is the Berlin branch of the Bundeswehr Military ...
.
* ''XX948'' Tornado Prototype P.06 on display at Hermeskeil
Hermeskeil () is a city in the Trier-Saarburg district, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is situated in the Hunsrück, approx. 25 km southeast of Trier. Its population is about 5,900.
Data
Hermeskeil is the seat of the ''Verbandsgemeind ...
.
* ''43+55'' Tornado IDS on display at Aeronauticum Aeronauticum is the official German maritime aircraft museum – located in Nordholz (close to Cuxhaven, Lower Saxony). The museum has a large collection of aircraft that has been used by the German Marine/Navy, among other places also in the adjace ...
, Nordholz.
* ''43+70'' Tornado IDS on display at Büchel Air Base
Büchel Air Base is a military air base of the Luftwaffe in Büchel (Germany), near the city of Cochem and at about 70 km from Spangdahlem Air Base. It is home to the Taktisches Luftwaffengeschwader 33 (Tactical Air Force Wing 33; abbreviat ...
, Cochem.
* ''43+86'' Tornado IDS (MTU corporate design paint scheme) at MTU Aero Engines
MTU Aero Engines AG is a German aircraft engine manufacturer. MTU develops, manufactures and provides service support for military and civil aircraft engines. MTU Aero Engines was formerly known as MTU München.
History
While the Munich-based en ...
, Munich.
* ''43+96'' Tornado IDS on display at Wengerohr, Wittlich
The town of Wittlich (; Moselle Franconian: ''Wittlech'') is the seat of the Bernkastel-Wittlich district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Its historic town centre and the beauty of the surrounding countryside make the town a centre for tourism in ...
.
* ''44+31'' Tornado IDS (Blue Lightning paint scheme) of the 31st Fighter Bomber Wing "Boelcke
Oswald Boelcke PlM (; 19 May 1891 – 28 October 1916) was a World War I German professional soldier and pioneering flying ace credited with 40 aerial victories. Boelcke is honored as the father of the German fighter air force, and of air ...
" at Nörvenich AB.
* ''44+35'' Tornado IDS on display at the Cologne Bonn Airport
Cologne Bonn Airport (german: Flughafen Köln/Bonn 'Konrad Adenauer') is the international airport of Germany's fourth-largest city Cologne, and also serves Bonn, former capital of West Germany. With around 12.4 million passengers passing throu ...
, Cologne.
* ''44+56'' Tornado IDS on display at Fliegergeschichtliche Museum TG JaboG 34, Memmingen
Memmingen (; Swabian: ''Memmenge'') is a town in Swabia, Bavaria, Germany. It is the economic, educational and administrative centre of the Danube-Iller region. To the west the town is flanked by the Iller, the river that marks the Baden-Wü ...
.
* ''44+68'' Tornado IDS on display at the Militärhistorisches Museum Flugplatz Berlin-Gatow
The Militärhistorisches Museum der Bundeswehr – Flugplatz Berlin-Gatow (''Bundeswehr Museum of Military History – Berlin-Gatow Airfield''; formally known as ''Luftwaffenmuseum der Bundeswehr''), is the Berlin branch of the Bundeswehr Military ...
.
* ''44+84'' Tornado IDS on display at Fürstenfeldbruck Air Base
Fürstenfeldbruck Air Base (German: "Fliegerhorst Fürstenfeldbruck" or "Flugplatz Fürstenfeldbruck") is a former German Air Force airfield near the town of Fürstenfeldbruck in Bavaria, near Munich, Germany.
Fürstenfeldbruck became famous firs ...
, Fürstenfeldbruck.
* ''44+96'' Tornado IDS gate guard at Schleswig Air Base
Schleswig Air Base is an airbase of the German Air Force, home to Taktisches Luftwaffengeschwader 51 (Tactical Air Force Wing 51) ''"Immelmann"'' (AKG 51) flying reconnaissance variants of the Panavia Tornado. It was formerly known from c.1945- ...
in Jagel, near Schleswig
The Duchy of Schleswig ( da, Hertugdømmet Slesvig; german: Herzogtum Schleswig; nds, Hartogdom Sleswig; frr, Härtochduum Slaswik) was a duchy in Southern Jutland () covering the area between about 60 km (35 miles) north and 70 km ...
.
* ''44+97'' Tornado IDS of the ''Einsatzgeschwader (Expeditionary Air Wing) Mazar-i-Sharif
, official_name =
, settlement_type = City
, image_skyline =
, pushpin_map = Afghanistan#Bactria#West Asia
, pushpin_label = Mazar-i-Sharif
, pushpin ...
'' at the Deutsches Museum Flugwerft Schleissheim
Flugwerft Schleissheim is an aviation museum located in the German town of Oberschleißheim near Munich, it forms part of the Deutsches Museum collection and complements the aviation exhibits on display at the main site. The museum was opened on ...
, Oberschleißheim
Oberschleißheim () is a Municipalities of Germany, municipality in the Munich (district), district of Munich, in Bavaria, Germany. It is located 13 km north of Munich (centre). As of 2005 it had a population of 11,467.
Oberschleißheim is ...
.
* ''45+30'' Tornado IDS on display at Aeronauticum Aeronauticum is the official German maritime aircraft museum – located in Nordholz (close to Cuxhaven, Lower Saxony). The museum has a large collection of aircraft that has been used by the German Marine/Navy, among other places also in the adjace ...
, Nordholz.
* ''45+44'' Tornado IDS gate guard at Büchel Air Base
Büchel Air Base is a military air base of the Luftwaffe in Büchel (Germany), near the city of Cochem and at about 70 km from Spangdahlem Air Base. It is home to the Taktisches Luftwaffengeschwader 33 (Tactical Air Force Wing 33; abbreviat ...
, Cochem.
;Italy
* ''MM7001'' Pre-production Tornado P.14 on display at Cameri Air Base
Cameri is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Novara in the Italian region Piedmont, located about northeast of Turin and about northeast of Novara.
Cameri borders the following municipalities: Bellinzago Novarese, Caltignaga, Castan ...
, Cameri.
* ''MM7046'' Tornado A-200 gate guard at Ghedi Air Base
Ghedi Air Base ( it, Base aerea di Ghedi, ) is a base of the Italian Air Force in Ghedi, about 15 kilometres from Brescia, northern Italy.
It is home to the 6º Stormo of the Italian Air Force with the 102º Gruppo (''Papero''), il 154º Gruppo ...
, Brescia.
* ''MM7080'' Tornado A-200 gate guard at Aviano Air Base
Aviano Air Base ( it, Base aerea di Aviano) is a base in northeastern Italy, in the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region. It is located in the Aviano municipality, at the foot of the Carnic Pre-Alps or Southern Carnic Alps, about from Pordenone.
Th ...
, Pordenone.
* ''MM7210'' (ex-''ZE836'') Tornado F3 on display at the Italian Air Force Museum
The Italian Air Force Museum is an aircraft museum at Vigna di Valle, on Lake Bracciano (Lazio), in central Italy. It is operated by the . The museum's collection has an emphasis on Italian machines and seaplanes. While maintaining the technical a ...
, Vigna di Valle.
;Netherlands
* ''XX947'' Tornado Prototype P.03 on display at PS Aero, Baarlo
Baarlo (; li, Baolder ) is a village in the southeastern Netherlands. It is located in the municipality of Peel en Maas, Limburg, about 6 km southwest of Venlo.
Name and symbols
The oldest mention of the name Baarlo is from 1219.
The old ...
, painted as ''98+08'' of the German Air Force.
;Saudi Arabia
* ''765'' Tornado IDS on display at King Abdul-Aziz Air Base, Dhahran.
* ''2915'' Tornado ADV on display at the Royal Saudi Air Force Museum in Riyadh.
;United Kingdom
* ''XX946'' Tornado Prototype P.02 on display at the RAF Museum Cosford
The Royal Air Force Museum Cosford, located in Cosford in Shropshire, is a free (currently, 2022) museum dedicated to the history of aviation and the Royal Air Force in particular. The museum is part of the Royal Air Force Museum, a non-departme ...
, England.[Simpson, Andrew]
"Individual History: Panavia Tornado PO.2 XX946/8883M (Museum Accession Number 1994/1458/A)."
''Royal Air Force Museum'', 2007. Retrieved 5 December 2011.
* ''XZ630'' Pre-production Tornado P.12 on display as a GR4 on the parade ground at RAF Halton
Royal Air Force Halton, or more simply RAF Halton, is one of the largest Royal Air Force stations in the United Kingdom. It is located near the village of Halton near Wendover, Buckinghamshire. The site has been in use since the First World W ...
, Buckinghamshire, England.
* ''XZ631'' Tornado GR4 Prototype P.15 on display at Yorkshire Air Museum
The Yorkshire Air Museum & Allied Air Forces Memorial is an aviation museum in Elvington, York on the site of the former RAF Elvington airfield, a Second World War RAF Bomber Command station. The museum was founded, and first opened to the pu ...
, Elvington, England.["Post World War II Aircraft."](_blank)
''Yorkshire Air Museum''. Retrieved 5 December 2011.
* ''ZA267'' Tornado F2T on display at RAF Syerston
Royal Air Force Station Syerston, commonly known as merely RAF Syerston , is a Royal Air Force station in the parish of Flintham, near Newark, Nottinghamshire. Opened in 1940, it was used by the Royal Air Force (RAF) as a bomber base during the ...
, Nottinghamshire, England.
* ''ZA319'' Tornado GR1T on display at the Boscombe Down Aviation Collection, Wiltshire, England.
* ''ZA326'' Tornado GR1P on display at South Wales Aviation Museum, Vale of Glamorgan, Wales.
* ''ZA354'' Tornado GR1 on display at Yorkshire Air Museum
The Yorkshire Air Museum & Allied Air Forces Memorial is an aviation museum in Elvington, York on the site of the former RAF Elvington airfield, a Second World War RAF Bomber Command station. The museum was founded, and first opened to the pu ...
, Elvington, England.
* ''ZA357'' Tornado GR1 on display at RAF Syerston, Nottinghamshire, England.
* ''ZA362'' Tornado GR1 previously on display at Highland Aviation Museum, Inverness, Scotland until December 2020
* ''ZA398'' Tornado GR4A on display at Cornwall Aviation Heritage Centre, Cornwall, England, the sole surviving RAF RECCE A variant.
* ''ZA399'' Tornado GR1 on display in Knutsford
Knutsford () is a market town in the borough of Cheshire East, in Cheshire, England. Knutsford is south-west of Manchester, north-west of Macclesfield and 12.5 miles (20 km) south-east of Warrington. The population at the 2011 Census wa ...
, Cheshire, England.
* ''ZA452'' Tornado GR4 on display at Midland Air Museum
The Midland Air Museum (MAM) is situated just outside the village of Baginton in Warwickshire, England, and is adjacent to Coventry Airport. The museum includes the ''Sir Frank Whittle Jet Heritage Centre'' (named after the local aviation pione ...
, Coventry
Coventry ( or ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. It is on the River Sherbourne. Coventry has been a large settlement for centuries, although it was not founded and given its ...
, England.
* ''ZA457'' Tornado GR1B on display at Royal Air Force Museum London
The Royal Air Force Museum London (also commonly known as the RAF Museum) is located on the former Hendon Aerodrome. It includes five buildings and hangars showing the history of aviation and the Royal Air Force. It is part of the Royal Air Forc ...
, Hendon, England.
* ''ZA465'' Tornado GR1 on display at Imperial War Museum
Imperial War Museums (IWM) is a British national museum organisation with branches at five locations in England, three of which are in London. Founded as the Imperial War Museum in 1917, the museum was intended to record the civil and military ...
, Duxford, England.[Ellis 2014, p. 23]
* ''ZA469'' Tornado GR4 on display at Imperial War Museum
Imperial War Museums (IWM) is a British national museum organisation with branches at five locations in England, three of which are in London. Founded as the Imperial War Museum in 1917, the museum was intended to record the civil and military ...
, Duxford, England.
* ''ZA475'' Tornado GR1 on the gate at RAF Lossiemouth
Royal Air Force Lossiemouth or more commonly RAF Lossiemouth is a military airfield located on the western edge of the town of Lossiemouth in Moray, north-east Scotland.
Lossiemouth is one of the largest and busiest fast-jet stations in the ...
, Scotland.
* ''ZA556'' Tornado GR4 on display at the Defence Academy of the United Kingdom
The Defence Academy of the United Kingdom provides higher education for personnel in the British Armed Forces, Civil Service, other government departments and service personnel from other nations. The Director General of the Defence Academy i ...
, Shrivenham
Shrivenham is a village and civil parish in the Vale of White Horse, Oxfordshire, England, about south-west of Faringdon. The village is close to the county boundary with Wiltshire and about east-northeast of Swindon. The 2011 Census recorde ...
, England.
* ''ZA607'' Tornado GR4 on the gate at MoD Sealand
MoD Sealand (formerly RAF Sealand), is a Ministry of Defence installation in Flintshire, in the northeast corner of Wales, close to the border with England. It is a former Royal Air Force station, active between 1916 and 2006.
Under defence c ...
, Wales.
* ''ZA614'' Tornado GR4 on the gate at RAF Marham
RAF Marham is a Royal Air Force station and military airbase near the village of Marham in the English county of Norfolk, East Anglia.
It is home to No. 138 Expeditionary Air Wing (138 EAW) and, as such, is one of the RAF's "Main Operating ...
, Norfolk, England.
* ''ZD744'' Tornado GR4 on display at Montrose Air Station Heritage Centre
The Montrose Air Station Heritage Centre is located to the North of Montrose, Angus, Scotland. Montrose has the distinction of having the first operational military airfield in Great Britain and the Heritage Centre is located on the former ...
, Angus, Scotland.
* ''ZE204'' Tornado F3 on display at the North East Land, Sea and Air Museums
The North East Land, Sea and Air Museums (NELSAM), formerly the North East Aircraft Museum, is a volunteer-run aviation museum situated on the site of the former RAF Usworth/Sunderland Airport, between Washington and Sunderland, in Tyne and Wear ...
, Tyne and Wear, England.
* ''ZE760'' Tornado F3 on the gate at RAF Coningsby
Royal Air Force Coningsby or RAF Coningsby , is a Royal Air Force (RAF) station located south-west of Horncastle, and north-west of Boston, in the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. It is a Main Operating Base of the RAF and hom ...
, Lincolnshire, England.
* ''ZE887'' Tornado F3 on display at Royal Air Force Museum London
The Royal Air Force Museum London (also commonly known as the RAF Museum) is located on the former Hendon Aerodrome. It includes five buildings and hangars showing the history of aviation and the Royal Air Force. It is part of the Royal Air Forc ...
, Hendon, England.
* ''ZE934'' Tornado F3 on display at National Museum of Flight
The National Museum of Flight is Scotland's national aviation museum, at East Fortune Airfield, just south of the village of East Fortune, Scotland. It is one of the museums within National Museums Scotland. The museum is housed in the original ...
, East Fortune, Scotland.
* ''ZE966'' Tornado F3 on display at Tornado Heritage Centre, Hawarden Airport
Hawarden Airport ( cy, Maes Awyr Penarlâg) , is an airport near Hawarden in Flintshire, Wales, near the border with England and west southwest of the English city of Chester.
Aviation Park Group (APG) is based at the airport and provides han ...
, Wales.
* ''ZE967'' Tornado F3 on the gate at Leuchars Station
Leuchars Station is a British Army installation located in Leuchars, Fife, on the east coast of Scotland, near to the historic town of St Andrews.
Formerly RAF Leuchars, it was the second most northerly air defence station in the United King ...
, Fife, Scotland.
* ''ZG771'' Tornado GR4 on display at Ulster Aviation Society, Lisburn, Northern Ireland.
* ''ZH552'' Tornado F3 on display at RAF Leeming
Royal Air Force Leeming or RAF Leeming is a Royal Air Force (RAF) station located near Leeming, North Yorkshire, England. It was opened in 1940 and was jointly used by the RAF and the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF). Between 1950 and 1991, it ...
, North Yorkshire, England.
;United States
* ''ZA374'' Tornado GR1 on display at the National Museum of the United States Air Force
The National Museum of the United States Air Force (formerly the United States Air Force Museum) is the official museum of the United States Air Force located at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, northeast of Dayton, Ohio. The NMUSAF is the ...
, Wright Patterson AFB, Ohio.
* ''43+74'' Tornado IDS of the German Navy, Marinefliegergeschwader 1 at the Pima Air & Space Museum
The Pima Air & Space Museum, located in Tucson, Arizona, is one of the world's largest non-government funded aerospace museums. The museum features a display of nearly 300 aircraft spread out over 80 acres (320,000 m²) on a campus occ ...
, Tucson, Arizona.
* ''43+75'' Tornado IDS on display at Holloman Air Force Base
Holloman Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base established in 1942 located six miles (10 km) southwest of the central business district of Alamogordo, and a census-designated place in Otero County, New Mexico, United States. Th ...
, New Mexico.
* ''45+11'' Tornado IDS on display at the New Mexico Museum of Space History
The New Mexico Museum of Space History is a museum and planetarium complex in Alamogordo, New Mexico dedicated to artifacts and displays related to space flight and the Space Age. It includes the International Space Hall of Fame. The Museum of Spa ...
, New Mexico.
Specifications (Tornado GR4)
Popular culture
See also
References
Notes
Citations
Bibliography
* ''Aeroguide 21: Panavia Tornado F Mk 2/Mk 3.'' Ongar, UK: Linewrights Ltd. 1988. .
* Allen, Calvin H. and W. Lynn Rigsbee. ''Oman Under Qaboos: From Coup to Constitution, 1970–1996.'' London: Routledge, 2000. .
* Ball, Desmond J. ''The Australian Tactical Fighter Force: Prologue and Prospects.'' Canberra: Australian National University, 1979. .
* Clark, Richard B. ''Air Power and Desert Storm.'' Darby, Pennsylvania: DIANE Publishing, 1993. .
* Cordesman, Anthony H. ''Gulf Military Forces in an Era of Asymmetric Wars, Volume 1.'' Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Publishing, 2007. .
* Cordesman, Anthony H. ''The Iraq War: Strategy, Tactics, and Military Lessons'' (CSIS Significant Issues Series). Westport, Connecticut: Praeger, 2003. .
* Cox, Sebastian and Peter Gray. ''Air Power History: Turning Points from Kitty Hawk to Kosovo.'' London: Routledge, 2002. .
* Donald, David. "Lossimouth Strike Wing". ''World Air Power Journal'', Volume 33, Summer 1998, pp. 104–113. London: Aerospace Publishing. . ISSN 0959-7050.
* Donald, David and Christopher Chant
''Air War in The Gulf 1991.''
Oxford, UK: Osprey Publishing, 2001. .
* Eagles, J.D
"Preparing a Bomber Destroyer: The Panavia Tornado ADV."
''Putnam Aeronautical Review'' (Naval Institute Press), Volume 2, 1991, pp. 88–93.
*
*
* Frédriksen, John C
''International Warbirds: An Illustrated Guide to World Military Aircraft, 1914–2000.''
Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO, 2001. .
* Geiss, Juergen and Peter Berndt
''Tornados and Further Planning.''
European Security and Defence, March 2010.
*
* Hoyle, Craig. "World Air Forces Directory". ''Flight International'', 13–19 December 2011. pp. 26–52.
* Jackson, Paul, Kenneth Munson, Lindsay Peacock and John W. R. Taylor, eds. ''Jane's All The World's Aircraft 1997–98.'' London: Jane's Information Group, 1998. .
* Jarret, D. N. ''Cockpit Engineering.'' Farnham, Surrey, UK: Ashgate Publishing, 2005. .
*
* Jukes, Malcolm. ''Aircraft Display Systems.'' Reston, Virginia: American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, 2004. .
* Koch, Christian and David E. Long. ''Gulf Security in the Twenty-First Century.'' London: I.B. Tauris, 2003. .
* Lake, Jon. "Aircraft of the RAF: Part 1 – Panavia Tornado". ''Air International
''AIR International'' is a British aviation magazine covering current defence aerospace and civil aviation topics. It has been in publication since 1971 and is currently published by Key Publishing Ltd.
History and profile
The magazine was fir ...
'', Vol. 74, No. 4, April 2008, pp. 24–29. ISSN 0306-5634.
* Lake, Jon. ''Great Book of Bombers.'' Minneapolis, Minnesota: Zenith Imprint, 2002. .
* Lake, Jon. "Tornado Variant Briefing: Part I: IDS and Recce". ''World Air Power Journal'', Volume 30, Autumn/Fall 1997, pp. 98–121. London: Aerospace Publishing. . ISSN 0959-7050.
* Lake, Jon. "Tornado Variant Briefing: Part III: Tornado Operators". ''World Air Power Journal'', Volume 32, Spring 1998, pp. 118–137. London: Aerospace Publishing. . ISSN 0959-7050.
* Lambeth, Benjamin S. ''NATO's Air War for Kosovo: A Strategic and Operational Assessment.'' Santa Monica, California: Rand Corporation, 2001. .
* Laming, Tim. ''Fight's On: Airborne with the Aggressors.'' Minneapolis, Minnesota: Zenith Imprint, 1996. .
* Lawrence, Richard R. ''Mammoth Eyewitness Book of How It Happened Battles: Eyewitness Accounts of History's Greatest Battles, from Thermopyle to the Gulf War''. London: Constable & Robinson Ltd, 2002. .
* List, Friedrich. "German Air Arms Review". ''Air International'', Vol. 70, No. 5, May 2006, pp. 50–57. ISSN 0306-5634.
* Lorell, Mark A. ''Troubled Partnership: A History of US-Japan Collaboration on the FS-X Fighter.'' Piscataway, New Jersey: Transaction Publishers (Rutgers University), 1996. .
* Lowry, Richard S. ''The Gulf War Chronicles: A Military History of the First War with Iraq.'' Bloomington, Indiana: iUniverse, 2008. .
* Martin, Stephen. ''The Economics of Offsets: Defence Procurement and Countertrade.'' London: Routledge, 1996. .
* Moir, Ian and Allan Seabridge. ''Aircraft Systems: Mechanical, Electrical and Avionics Subsystems Integration.'' New York: John Wiley and Sons, 2011. .
* Napier, Michael. ''Tornado GR1: An Operational History.'' Barnsley: Pen & Sword Aviation, 2017
* Niccoli, Riccardo. "New Capabilities for Italy's Tornados". ''Air International'', Vol. 72, No. 6, pp. 26–29. ISSN 0306-5634.
* Niccoli, Riccardo. "SAM Busters". ''Air International'', Vol. 76, No. 4, pp. 46–51. ISSN 0306-5634.
* Olsen, John Andreas. ''Global Air Power.'' Sterling, Virginia: Potomac Books, 2011. .
"Paris: Biggest Ever"
''Flight International
''Flight International'' is a monthly magazine focused on aerospace. Published in the United Kingdom and founded in 1909 as "A Journal devoted to the Interests, Practice, and Progress of Aerial Locomotion and Transport", it is the world's oldes ...
'', Volume 91, Number 3038, 1 June 1967. pp. 893–908.
* Pratt, Roger. ''Flight Control Systems: Practical Issues in Design and Implementation.'' London:Institution of Electrical Engineers, 2000. .
* Peters, John E
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*
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''Flight International
''Flight International'' is a monthly magazine focused on aerospace. Published in the United Kingdom and founded in 1909 as "A Journal devoted to the Interests, Practice, and Progress of Aerial Locomotion and Transport", it is the world's oldes ...
'', Volume 93, Number 3089, 23 May 1968. pp. 793–804a.
* Wertheim, Eric. ''Naval Institute Guide to Combat Fleets of the World: Their Ships, Aircraft, and Systems.'' Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 2007. .
External links
Panavia Managing Tornado
Panavia Tornado IDS Attack Bomber on Aerospaceweb.org
Panavia Tornado on Tornado-data.com
List of all active German Tornados
German IDS Tornado 44+97
at the Deutsches Museum
The Deutsches Museum (''German Museum'', officially (English: ''German Museum of Masterpieces of Science and Technology'')) in Munich, Germany, is the world's largest museum of science and technology, with about 28,000 exhibited objects from ...
subsidiary Flugwerft Oberschleißheim
Oberschleißheim () is a Municipalities of Germany, municipality in the Munich (district), district of Munich, in Bavaria, Germany. It is located 13 km north of Munich (centre). As of 2005 it had a population of 11,467.
Oberschleißheim is ...
, Germany (DE)
"MRCA: Six Years After TSR.2"
a 1971 ''Flight'' article
a 1975 advertisement in ''Flight''
{{Authority control
Alenia aircraft
British Aerospace aircraft
1970s British attack aircraft
1970s German attack aircraft
1970s Italian attack aircraft
1970s international attack aircraft
Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm aircraft
Variable-sweep-wing aircraft
Twinjets
Aircraft first flown in 1974