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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 its founding the company is based in
Hallbergmoos Hallbergmoos is a municipality in the district of Freising in Bavaria in Germany. The Isar River flows west of the town. Economy Augsburg Airways, a regional airline, was headquartered in Hallbergmoos until it ceased to exist. The headquarters o ...
, a municipality in the district of Freising in Bavaria, Germany. In a similar arrangement, development of the Tornado'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 ...
turbofans is undertaken by the multinational
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 ...
Limited based in the UK (Moor Lane, Derby). The partner companies are * 42.5% Airbus Deutschland GmbH (now
Airbus Defence and Space Airbus Defence and Space is the division of Airbus SE responsible for the development and manufacturing of the corporation's defence and space products, while also providing related services. The division was formed in January 2014 during the ...
) * 42.5%
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. ...
plc * 15% Alenia Aeronautica S.p.A. (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 ...
Aircraft Division)


History

In the late 1960s, the British, German and Italian main defence companies looked at developing a strike aircraft together. The West Germans and Italians wanted a more short-range battlefield aircraft (something like the current A-10), but the British, specifically
Air Chief Marshal Air chief marshal (Air Chf Mshl or ACM) is a high-ranking air officer originating from the Royal Air Force. The rank is used by air forces of many countries that have historical British influence. An air chief marshal is equivalent to an Admir ...
Derek Hodgkinson Air Chief Marshal Sir William Derek Hodgkinson, (27 December 1917 – 29 January 2010) was a senior Royal Air Force officer. As a bomber pilot in the Second World War, he was shot down and spent time in Stalag Luft III as "Big S", responsible f ...
, argued for a more long range aircraft. Negotiations took place in London, Bonn and Munich. The NATO Multirole Combat Aircraft Development and Production Management Agency (NAMMA) was established to manage development and production of the Tornado. It was initially based in the same building as Panavia.


Formation

Panavia was established in 1969 by the
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 ...
,
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 ...
(which had formed the year before) and
Fiat Aviazione Fiat Aviazione was an Italian aircraft manufacturer, at one time part of the Fiat group, focused mainly on military aviation. After World War I, Fiat consolidated several Italian small aircraft manufacturers, like Pomilio and Ansaldo. Most famous ...
(which became Aeritalia that year). It was planned to produce more than 1,000 aircraft. An aircraft was needed to counter the perceived threat from Russian aircraft such as the MiG-25 Foxbat and the Su-15 Flagon aircraft, which had been in service since around 1967. A multi-purpose aircraft was needed to allow a long production run and to lower costs per aircraft ( unit price). In 1970, the unit cost was expected to be only $2.9m. Around 1965, the UK ( BAC) had been negotiating with France (
Dassault Aviation Dassault Aviation SA () is a French Aerospace manufacturer, manufacturer of military aircraft and business jets. It was founded in 1929 by Marcel Dassault, Marcel Bloch as Société des Avions Marcel Bloch or "MB". After World War II, Marc ...
) to produce the
AFVG BAC/Dassault AFVG (standing for Anglo-French Variable Geometry) was a 1960s project for supersonic multi-role combat aircraft with a variable-sweep wing, jointly developed by British Aircraft Corporation in the United Kingdom and Dassault Aviat ...
(Anglo-French Variable Geometry), which looked remarkably similar to what became the Tornado. The project failed due to the French manufacturer wanting to produce its own all-French variable geometry aircraft (the experimental Dassault Mirage G) which first flew in 1967, and never entered service, being cancelled in the 1970s. Marcel Dassault later saw the Panavia project as a direct threat to his company. Another Anglo-French defence project of the late 1960s was the
SEPECAT Jaguar The SEPECAT Jaguar is an Anglo-French jet attack aircraft originally used by the British Royal Air Force and the French Air Force in the close air support and nuclear strike role. It is still in service with the Indian Air Force. Originall ...
. In 1959, the French and West Germans had collaborated to form
Transall Transall (''Transport Allianz'') was a consortium created to design and manufacture the Transall C-160 military transport aircraft. Established in 1959, the company was initially a joint venture between Nord Aviation of France and Weser Flugzeu ...
, which produced the Transall C-160 transport aircraft in 1963. Canada and the Netherlands withdrew from the project in 1969 for financial reasons. The first Chairman was
Allen Greenwood Allen, Allen's or Allens may refer to: Buildings * Allen Arena, an indoor arena at Lipscomb University in Nashville, Tennessee * Allen Center, a skyscraper complex in downtown Houston, Texas * Allen Fieldhouse, an indoor sports arena on the Unive ...
, of BAC in Weybridge. In 1989, the German involvement became DaimlerChrysler Aerospace (DASA). On 15 September 1986, the Munich offices (which also housed the Bavarian State Office for Environmental Protection) were damaged by a bomb.


Panavia Tornado

The aircraft was originally known as the MRA-75, the MRCA and the ACA. Design work began in May 1969. By 1970, it was known as the Panavia 100, with the two-seat version being the Panavia 200. The RAF was to have the two-seat version. The avionics on the aircraft were developed by another ''ad hoc'' European company, Avionica, formed by Elliott (UK), Elektronik System (West Germany) and SIA (Italy). The Tornado first flew in 1974. The first director of flight operations was Wing Commander
Roland Beamont Wing Commander Roland Prosper "Bee" Beamont, (10 August 1920 – 19 November 2001) was a British fighter pilot for the Royal Air Force (RAF) and an experimental test pilot during and after the Second World War. He was the first British pilot to ...
. Marketing of the plane was directed by Jeffrey Quill from 1969–76, who had been head of marketing at SEPECAT. The RAF flew a variant, the Panavia Tornado ADV, with a larger GEC-Marconi
AI.24 Foxhunter The AI.24 ''Foxhunter'' was an airborne radar carried by the Panavia Tornado ADV fighter aircraft (known as the Tornado F3 in Royal Air Force service) and gave it an all-weather, day and night, beyond-visual-range engagement capability. Pro ...
radar, implemented in the mid-1970s with the involvement of
Air Chief Marshal Air chief marshal (Air Chf Mshl or ACM) is a high-ranking air officer originating from the Royal Air Force. The rank is used by air forces of many countries that have historical British influence. An air chief marshal is equivalent to an Admir ...
Sir Neil Wheeler. Another variant was the Tornado ECR (Electronic Combat and Reconnaissance), developed for the Luftwaffe, and proposed to be sold to the US in 1985. Its all-weather capabilities at the time were unmatched in the world. The Tornado aircraft is expected to remain in service until at least 2025. That would be more than fifty years after it first flew. The Tornado for the RAF and RSAF was assembled at Warton Aerodrome, then owned by British Aerospace.


Common organisations

The Tornado management model was adopted for the European Fighter Aircraft, which is now in production as the Eurofighter Typhoon. The NAMMA was replaced by the
NATO Eurofighter and Tornado Management Agency The NATO Eurofighter 2000 and Tornado Management Agency (NETMA) is the prime customer and management body for the four-state Eurofighter Typhoon Weapon System programme. Its offices are located in Hallbergmoos, Germany and it is staffed by civilian ...
(NETMA), which is the prime contractor for the Eurofighter Weapon System and continued development of the Tornado. In the 1970s, Euromissile was formed by West Germany and
Aérospatiale Aérospatiale (), sometimes styled Aerospatiale, was a French state-owned aerospace manufacturer that built both civilian and military aircraft, rockets and satellites. It was originally known as Société nationale industrielle aérospatiale ( ...
of France. This company now has a similar mix to Panavia, and also includes the French, being known as MBDA.


References


External links


Official site

Panavia GmbH at BAE Systems website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Panavia Aircraft Gmbh Aerospace companies of Germany Aircraft manufacturers of Germany Defence companies of Germany Companies based in Munich Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1969 1969 establishments in West Germany Aviation in Germany Airbus joint ventures BAE Systems joint ventures German companies established in 1969