Katana VentraIP

Panavia Tornado

The Panavia Tornado is a family of twin-engine, variable-sweep wing multi-role combat aircraft, jointly developed and manufactured by Italy, the United Kingdom and Germany.[a] There are three primary Tornado variants: the Tornado IDS (interdictor/strike) fighter-bomber, the Tornado ECR (electronic combat/reconnaissance) SEAD aircraft and the Tornado ADV (air defence variant) interceptor aircraft.

The Tornado was developed and built by Panavia Aircraft GmbH, a tri-national consortium consisting of British Aerospace (previously British Aircraft Corporation), MBB[b] of West Germany, and Aeritalia 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 (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, the Tri-National Tornado Training Establishment, maintained a level of international co-operation beyond the production stage.


The Tornado was operated by the Royal Air Force (RAF), Italian Air Force, and RSAF during the Gulf War 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, Kosovo War, Iraq War, in Libya during the 2011 Libyan civil war, as well as smaller roles in Afghanistan, Yemen, and Syria. Including all variants, 990[1] aircraft were built.

: 210 IDS and 35 ECR Tornados delivered.[294] By December 2018, 94 IDS and 28 ECR aircraft remained in service.[295]

Luftwaffe

: 112 IDS Tornados delivered, retired in June 2005 with some aircraft being reallocated to the Luftwaffe.[296]

Marineflieger

ZG791 Tornado GR4 on display at , Bull Creek, Western Australia.[304]

Aviation Heritage Museum

Crew: 2

Length: 16.72 m (54 ft 10 in)

Wingspan: 13.91 m (45 ft 8 in) at 25° sweep

Swept wingspan: 8.60 m (28 ft 3 in) swept at 67° sweep

Height: 5.95 m (19 ft 6 in)

Wing area: 26.6 m2 (286 sq ft)

Empty weight: 13,890 kg (30,622 lb)

[368]

Gross weight: 20,240 kg (44,622 lb)

[369]

Powerplant: 2 × -34R Mk 103 afterburning 3-spool turbofan, 43.8 kN (9,800 lbf) thrust each dry, 76.8 kN (17,300 lbf) with afterburner

Turbo-Union RB199

Data from International Warbirds: An Illustrated Guide to World Military Aircraft, 1914–2000,[55] Tornado, Modern Fighting Aircraft[367]


General characteristics


Performance


Armament



Avionics

Future Combat Air System

Wild Weasel

Related development


Aircraft of comparable role, configuration, and era


Related lists

Panavia Managing Tornado

Tornado (BAe) on Fas.org

Panavia Tornado IDS Attack Bomber on Aerospaceweb.org

Panavia Tornado on Tornado-data.com

at the Deutsches Museum subsidiary Flugwerft Oberschleißheim, Germany (DE)

German IDS Tornado 44+97