The Tornado is a twin-engined, swing wing two seat aircraft, jointly developed by the UK, Germany and Italy. The main focus of this article is the IDS (Interdictor/Strike) variant operated by the Lossiemouth Tornado Wing; however there are two other primary versions of the Tornado; the ADV (Air Defence Variant), and the suppression of enemy air defence Tornado ECR (Electronic Combat/Reconnaissance).

Developed and built by Panavia, a tri-nation company consisting of British Aerospace (then the British Aircraft Corporation), MBB of Germany, and Alenia Aeronautica of Italy, the Tornado first flew on 14th August 1974 as the Multi Role Combat Aircraft (MRCA). By the time production ended in 1998, a total of 992 Tornado aircraft (all variants) had been built by Panavia for the three partner nations, and the only export customer, Saudi Arabia.

International co-operation continued after its entry into service within the Tri-National Tornado Training Establishment (TTTE), a training and evaluation unit operating from RAF Cottesmore. The first RAF Tornadoes arrived at the beginning of July 1980, followed by German examples the following October and Italian examples two years later in April 1982; the eventually complement was 19 RAF, 23 German and six Italian aircraft. Flying operations started on 5th January 1981 and at its height the TTTE trained an average of 300 crews per annum. In the cost cutting post Cold War era, the three partner nations decided to run their own type training, and consequently the unit disbanded on 24th February 1999, with all Tornado flying ending by 31st March 1999.

The Design

The Tornado was originally designed as a low-level supersonic ground attack bomber, capable of taking off and landing in short distances. In general, when an aircraft is designed to fly at high speeds it will usually have poor low-speed characteristics. In order to achieve the desired high-speed performance, an aircraft requires a highly swept or delta wing platform. However, such wing designs are very inefficient at low speeds where unswept wing plan forms are required. Therefore, in order for an aircraft to be operated efficiently at both high and low speeds, variable wing sweep is the best option, as incorporated into the Tornado design. When the wings are swept back, the Tornado GR.4 increases its high-speed low-level capability by reducing drag. When sweeping, the wings partially slide into the fuselage, reducing the exposed wing area. This gives the aircraft a low gust response in turbulent low-level winds. This not only makes flight much more comfortable for the aircrew but makes the aircraft a more stable platform from which to aim and deliver unguided weapons at low level.

The aircraft was designed to be land-based and operate from large airfields that were considered to be vulnerable to aerial attack. During the development of the aircraft, short field landing capability was considered essential in order to enable the aircraft to operate from short strips on potentially damaged runways and taxiways.

When required to fly at low speed, the pilot will sweep the wings forward (through a selection lever in the cockpit) to maximise lift, and when flying faster the wings will be swept further back. The Tornado GR.4 has three levels of wing sweep: 25, 45 and 67 degrees.

The Tornado was cleared to carry almost all the air-launched weapons in the NATO armoury, including cluster bombs, anti-runway munitions, and nuclear weapons. The IDS also has a limited air-to-air capability with AIM-9 Sidewinder air to air missiles.

RAF Tornadoes have carried a variety of camouflage schemes since their initial entry into service. The GR.1 was delivered in a gun metal grey/olive drab green camouflage, but this was changed to dark grey during the late 1990s. In operations over Iraq some GR.1s received a sandy, almost pink scheme. GR.4s participating in the 2003 Iraq War were painted in a light grey scheme.

Combat Operations

The first of 228 RAF GR.1s was delivered on 5th June 1979, with the type entering service in 1981, initially with the TTTE and 45 Sqn (the Tactical Weapons Conversion Unit) and from 1983 the front line Sqns of the RAF in Germany and the United Kingdom.

The Tornado was designed for ultra-low level penetration strikes, in all weathers using terrain following radar, on Warsaw Pact targets in Europe with both conventional and tactical nuclear weapons. Thankfully the Tornado was never used for its intended mission; its actual combat debut came in 1991 during Operation GRANBY, the first Gulf War, when nearly 60 RAF GR.1s were deployed to bases in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. The main initial task of the GR.1 was to use the JP233 runway denial weapon on Iraqi airfields - flying at transonic speeds at 50 to 100 feet above the ground to deliver the weapon proved costly, with a number of GR.1s lost during early operations.

In the first 24 hours of offensive operations, RAF aircraft flew a total of 101 sorties, an intensity of activity which was sustained throughout the early period of the conflict (by the end of hostilities, the GR.1 had delivered over 3000 tonnes of ordnance, comprising over 100 JP233 airfield denial weapons, around 6000 1000lb bombs (of which over 1000 were laser guided), over 100 ALARM anti-radar missiles and nearly 700 air-to-ground rockets).

Following the end of the initial phase of the war, the GR.1s switched to medium level strike missions. However they lacked both equipment and training to complete these missions properly. In an emergency deployment, the RAF deployed a detachment of PAVE SPIKE designator equipped Buccaneers to mark targets for the GR.1s and their precision guided weapons.

Following the end of the war, British forces remained in the Gulf, with GR.1s based at Ali Al Salem airbase in Kuwait for operations over the southern ‘no fly zone’. The GR.1s later took part in December 1998’s Operation DESERT FOX; a major four-day bombing campaign against Iraqi targets.

1999 saw further action for the GR.1 in the Kosovo War. Aircraft operated from RAF Bruggen in Germany during the first part of the war, flying precision strike missions. They later moved to a base on Corsica shortly before the war ended to bring them closer to the combat zone.

Operation SOUTHERN WATCH witnessed the operational debut of the GR.4 during April 1998, patrolling large areas of southern Iraq.

Although a small number of weapons were dropped during SOUTHERN WATCH Operations, the GR.4’s full wartime debut came during Operation TELIC, the British part of the invasion of Iraq in 2003. This campaign marked a number of firsts for the aircraft; 617 Sqn used the Storm Shadow air launched cruise missile for the first time and enhanced Paveway Laser Guided Bombs were used to attack runways.

Anti Shipping Operations and Mid Life Update

The Tornado GR.1B was a specialised anti-shipping variant of the RAF Tornado GR.1. Based at RAF Lossiemouth, they replaced the Buccaneer in the anti-shipping role with the Sea Eagle anti-ship missile. With the GR.4 upgrade it was decided there was no further requirement for the specialised anti-shipping GR.4B variant; the threat from surface warships had diminished and the Sea Eagle missile was coming towards the end of its service life with no plans to replace it.

The Tornado Mid-Life Update (MLU) was originally conceived as early as 1984, however, it was not approved by the UK MOD until 1994. This MLU to Tornado GR.4 standard would improve capability in the now more widely used medium level precision attack role whilst maintaining the Tornado's exceptional low-level attack capability. British Aerospace (later BAe Systems) was contracted to upgrade 142 GR.1s to GR.4 standard, with work beginning in 1996 and was completed in 2003. The upgraded Tornado features FLIR (Forward-Looking Infrared), a wide-angle HUD (Heads-Up Display), improved cockpit displays, NVG (Night Vision Goggles) capabilities, new avionics and weapons systems, updated computer systems, and a GPS (Global Positioning System) receiver. The updated weapons system allowed integration of the latest offensive weapons, such as MBDA Storm Shadow and Brimstone missiles and reconnaissance equipment such as the RAPTOR pod.

The reconnaissance variant of the Tornado, the GR.1A, was not overlooked with 25 aircraft upgraded to GR.4A standard. Although expected to remain in service until 2025, the RAF is currently examining replacement options for the Tornado fleet, this could be a UAV or a cruise missile (possibly a Storm Shadow variant) or a manned aircraft such as modified version of the Eurofighter Typhoon or the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.

The RAF Tornado GR.4 fleet (both the Lossiemouth and Marham Wings) have been allocated the following tail codes:

ZA365	001		ZA562	051		ZD793	101
ZA367	002		ZA563	052		ZD810	102
ZA369	003		ZA564	053		ZD811	103
ZA370	004		ZA585	054		ZD812	104
ZA371	005		ZA587	055		ZD842	105
ZA372	006		ZA588	056		ZD843	106
ZA373	007		ZA589	057		ZD844	107
ZA393	008		ZA591	058		ZD847	108
ZA395	009		ZA592	059		ZD848	109
ZA398	010		ZA594	060		ZD849	110
ZA400	011		ZA595	061		ZD850	111
ZA401	012		ZA596	062		ZD851	112
ZA404	013		ZA597	063		ZD890	113
ZA405	014		ZA598	064		ZD892	114
ZA406	015		ZA600	065		ZD895	115
ZA410	016		ZA601	066		ZD996	117
ZA412	017		ZA602	067		ZE116	116
ZA446	018		ZA604	068		ZG707	119
ZA447	019		ZA606	069		ZG709	120
ZA449	020		ZA607	070		ZG711	121
ZA452	021		ZA608	071		ZG712	122
ZA453	022		ZA609	072		ZG713	123
ZA456	023		ZA611	073		ZG714	124
ZA458	024		ZA612	074		ZG726	125
ZA459	025		ZA613	075		ZG727	126
ZA461	026		ZA614	076		ZG729	127
ZA462	027		ZD707	077		ZG750	128
ZA463	028		ZD709	078		ZG752	129
ZA469	029		ZD711	079		ZG754	130
ZA470	030		ZD712	080		ZG756	131
ZA472	031		ZD713	081		ZG769	132
ZA473	032		ZD714	082		ZG771	133
ZA492	033		ZD715	083		ZG775	134
ZA541	034		ZD716	084		ZG777	135
ZA542	035		ZD719	085		ZG779	136
ZA543	036		ZD720	086		ZG791	137
ZA544	037		ZD739	087		ZG792	138
ZA546	038		ZD740	088		ZG794	140
ZA547	039		ZD741	089
ZA548	040		ZD742	090
ZA549	041		ZD743	091
ZA550	042		ZD744	092
ZA551	043		ZD745	093
ZA552	044		ZD746	094
ZA553	045		ZD747	095
ZA554	046		ZD748	096
ZA556	047		ZD749	097
ZA557	048		ZD788	098
ZA559	049		ZD790	099
ZA560	050		ZD792	100

 

 

RAF Users - Past and Present
II(AC) Sqn	Marham	GR.4/4A	Active	1988-
V (AC) Sqn	Coningsby	F.3	Disbanded	1987-2003
IX Sqn	Marham	GR.4/4A	Active	1985-
XI(F) Sqn	Leeming	F.3	Disbanded	1988-2005
12(B) Sqn	Lossiemouth	GR.4/4A	Active	1993-
13 Sqn	Marham	GR.4/4A	Active	1990-
14 Sqn	Lossiemouth	GR.4/4A	Active	1985-
XV(R) Sqn	Lossiemouth	GR.4	GR.4 Operational Conversion Unit	XV Sqn (RAF Germany) 1983-1992 then as XV(R) Sqn (GR.4 OCU) 1992 onwards
16 Sqn	Laarbruch	GR.1	Disbanded	1983-1991
17 Sqn	Brüggen	GR.1	Disbanded	1985-1999
20 Sqn	Laarbruch	GR.1	Disbanded	1984-1992
23 Sqn	Leeming	F.3	Disbanded	1988-1994
XXV(F) Sqn	Leeming	F.3	Active	1998 (due to disband March 2008)
27 Sqn	Marham	GR.1	Disbanded	1983-1993
29 Sqn	Coningsby	F.3	Disbanded	1987-1998
31 Sqn	Marham	GR.4/4A	Active	1984-
43(F) Sqn	Leuchars	F.3	Active	1990-
56(R) Sqn	Leuchars	F.3	F.3 Operational Conversion Unit	1992-
111 Sqn	Leuchars	F3	Active	1990-
617 Sqn	Lossiemouth	GR.4/4A	Active	1982-
229 OCU (65(R) Sqn)	Coningsby	F.2/3	Renumbered 56(R) Sqn 1992, transferred to RAF Leuchars 2003	1984-1992 F.2/3 Operational Conversion Unit
No. 1435 Flight	Mount Pleasant	F.3		1992-
Tri-National Tornado Training Establishment (TTTE)	Cottesmore	GR.1	Disbanded	1981-1999
Tornado Weapons Conversion Unit (45 Sqn – TWCU)	Honington	GR.1	Renumbered XV(R) Sqn	1981-1992

 

Although still very much an operational aircraft, a number of Tornado IDS & ADV airframes have been preserved in the UK:

• XX946 P-02 Tornado Prototype; on display RAF Museum Cosford.  
• XX947 P-03 Tornado Prototype; on display Shoreham Airport.
• XZ631 Tornado GR.1; on display Yorkshire Air Museum, Elvington.
• ZA319 Tornado GR.1; DSDA Bicester (restricted access).
• ZA354 Tornado GR.1; on display Yorkshire Air Museum, Elvington.
• ZA362 Tornado GR.1; on display Highland Aviation Museum, Inverness.
• ZA407 Tornado GR.1; RAF Marham main gate (restricted access).
• ZA457 Tornado GR.1; on display RAF Museum, Hendon.
• ZA465 Tornado GR.1; on display Imperial War Museum, Duxford.
• ZA475 Tornado GR.1; RAF Lossiemouth main gate (restricted access).
• ZE760 Tornado F.3; RAF Coningsby main gate (restricted access).
• ZE934 Tornado F.3; on display Royal Scottish Museum of Flight, East Fortune.
• ZE967 Tornado F.3; RAF Leuchars main gate (restricted access).

 

 

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