Tribute to RAF PANAVIA TORNADO F3 and GR4

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The Panavia Tornado is a family of twin-engine combat aircraft, which was jointly developed by the United Kingdom, West Germany and Italy. There are three primary versions of the Tornado; the Tornado IDS (Interdictor/Strike) fighter-bomber, the suppression of enemy air defences Tornado ECR (Electronic Combat/Reconnaissance) and the Tornado ADV (Air Defence Variant) interceptor. It is one of the world's most sophisticated and capable interdiction and attack aircraft, with a large payload, long range and high survivability.

Developed and built by Panavia, a tri-national consortium consisting of British Aerospace (then the British Aircraft Corporation), MBB of West Germany, and Alenia Aeronautica of Italy, the Tornado first flew on August 14, 1974, and saw action with the RAF and AMI (Italian Air Force) in the Gulf War. International co-operation continued after its entry into service within the Tri-National Tornado Training Establishment, a tri-nation training and evaluation unit operating from RAF Cottesmore, England. Including all variants, 992 aircraft were built for the three partner nations and Saudi Arabia.

Royal Air Force

The first British prototype made its maiden flight on 30 October 1974. On 11 July 1985 the RAF reconnaissance version (GR1A) made its maiden flight. RAF Tornado GR1s were used during the Gulf War, Operation Desert Fox and the Kosovo War.

For the Gulf War (Operation Granby), the ALARM missile and TIALD pod were rushed into service for RAF IDSs. Seven aircraft were lost to ground fire. It is said that these Tornados were shot down by AAA fire and MANPADS during delivery of the JP233 missions, whereas in fact none of the losses occurred during the attack phase of a JP 233 mission. (One Tornado was shot down three minutes after the attack had been completed.)

Laser guided bombing was introduced at Muharraq on 2 February using Buccaneers as airborne designators. Over 1500 bombing sorties and 100 JP233 sorties were flown by RAF Tornados during the Gulf War.[2]

On 14 February 1994 the RAF received the first GR.1B maritime strike aircraft.

As early as May 1984 the UK Ministry of Defence began studies for the first Tornado upgrade project, but the project stalled. In March 1993 a new Mid-Life Upgrade (MLU) project was launched. On 29 May the first GR.4 development aircraft made its maiden flight. On 29 July 1994 the UK signed a contract for MLU of GR1/GR1A/GR1Bs to GR.4/GR.4A standard. The first flight of an upgraded GR4 was on 4 April 1997, with the first delivery to the RAF on 31 October. The GR4 entered front line service on 28 April 1998. The Tornado GR4 made its operational debut in patrols during Operation Southern Watch. The aircraft flew from Ali Al Salem in Kuwait, and patrolled a large part of southern Iraq. Several times bombs were dropped when the aircraft were fired upon by Iraqi ground defences.

The GR4 version's full wartime debut came in Operation Telic, the British part of the invasion of Iraq in 2003. The aircraft, according to all indications in the public domain, performed well. The campaign in Iraq marked a number of firsts for the aircraft. No. 617 Squadron used the Storm Shadow Missile for the first time, and enhanced Paveway smart bombs were used to attack runways. On 23 March 2003 a Tornado GR4 was lost to friendly fire when it was engaged and shot down by a U.S. Patriot missile battery. Both crew members were killed.

In early 2009, Tornado GR4s are due to replace the detachment of Harrier GR7/9 ground-attack aircraft that has been based at Afghanistan's Kandahar airfield since November 2004.