Loser of the day: fifty years of “Tornado”
Panavia Tornado, aka MRA-75, aka Panavia 200. The fruit of the joint work of the British Aircraft Corporation (Great Britain), Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm (Germany), and Aeritalia (Italy).
These three whales formed the consortium Panavia Aircraft GmbH in 1971, shares in which belonged to British Aircraft Corporation (42,5%), Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm (42,5%), Aeritalia (15%).
Two modifications were developed: the Tornado IDS fighter-bomber and the Tornado ADV interceptor. Aircraft have come a long way, but the ADV interceptor ended its career in 2010, but the IDS fighter continues to serve to this day, reaching its anniversary.
This plane can and should be considered a symbol of the revival of European aviation design school and industry, truly in Western Europe they were able to overcome everything: complete decline after the war, the financial crisis of the sixties, dependence on the United States. And a truly excellent third-generation combat aircraft was created, which also became the first European aircraft with a variable-sweep wing and the world's first production aircraft with a fly-by-wire control system (EDCS).
History work on the aircraft project was difficult and long, and as a result, only three countries remained from the European consortium of 8 countries, which began implementing the project, which was called MRCA-75 (Multi Role Combat Aircraft - multi-role combat aircraft of 1975).
The plane really turned out to be “universal” (“Panavia” - “General Aviation” from Greek): in addition to the announced concerns, the following took part in the development:
- Turbo Union (Rolls-Royce, Fiat, MTU) created the engines;
- Mauser created guns;
- Avionika worked on avionics.
Interestingly, the creator countries saw the role of the aircraft differently: in the British Royal Air Force, the MRCA-75 was supposed to replace the Vulcan and Canberra bombers, without being embarrassed at all by the fact that the Vulcan was a very strategic bomber, which, according to plans, was supposed to strike, including on the territory of the USSR.
In the German Luftwaffe, the new aircraft was supposed to replace the frankly unsuccessful F-104G as both a fighter and an attack aircraft capable of operating against naval targets in the Baltic.
The Italian Air Force in MRCA-75 also saw a hunter for Soviet ships in the Mediterranean Sea instead of the Starfighter.
As a result, after lengthy discussions and agreements, the main tasks of MRCA-75 were determined:
- strikes on enemy airfields;
- striking at troop concentration areas, headquarters and communications;
- direct all-weather and round-the-clock support for ground troops on the battlefield;
- strikes against surface sea targets;
- conducting aerial reconnaissance.
Well, plus everything, the plane had to be able to maneuver in combat. Of course, with Soviet fighters, which in itself was a difficult task, especially considering the low altitude of the aircraft. In essence, the result was a multi-role strike bomber-attack aircraft. Still, as a fighter it was fodder for the Soviet Su and MiG.
Initially, Germany and Great Britain wanted to adopt a two-seat aircraft (Panavia-200), while the Italians were happy with a single-seat aircraft (Panavia-100). As a result, the parties agreed on a two-seater model for reasons of economy.
On August 14, 1974, the first aircraft took off. In September 1974, the new fighter-bomber was named "Tornado". In 1980, the British Air Force received the first Tornado aircraft, and a year later these aircraft began to enter service with the Italian and German Air Forces.
Germany purchased 359 aircraft.
The Luftwaffe received:
- 157 fighter-bombers;
- 55 combat training aircraft with dual control;
- 35 aircraft EW "Tornado" ECR.
The Bundesmarine received 100 fighter-bombers and 12 dual-control aircraft for its aviation.
Italy purchased 100 fighter-bombers, 12 of them with dual controls.
The UK received a total of 229 aircraft, of which 51 were dual-control). In addition, in 1984, some British aircraft were modified to carry the British WE177B nuclear bomb or the American B61 nuclear bomb. This modification was designated Tornado GR.1.
"Tornado" entered service and... almost instantly became outdated. Despite the fact that the work was carried out quite quickly in the second part, by the nineties the aircraft was openly in need of improvements. And when preparations began for the war with Iraq, they took on the “Tornado” more than specifically.
A special radio-absorbing coating was applied to the front parts of the air intakes, wings and tail, which, however, turned out to be ineffective and even moreover, there were cases of tearing off and getting into the air intakes. As a result, after the war the coating was removed from all aircraft.
But more useful things have been added:
- encrypted communication equipment;
- special cockpit lighting, allowing the pilot to use night vision goggles;
- satellite navigation unit;
- new PTBs with a capacity increased to 2250 liters;
- hanging container (2 pcs.) with laser-thermal imaging sighting system TIALD.
The armament was supplemented by American Paveway II guided bombs, rockets AIM-9 "Sidewinder" and experimental anti-radar missiles ALARM, which in fact underwent field tests in Iraq.
Over time, the range of weapons that the Torando could carry increased. In the 90s, the Tornado was armed with the Sea Eagle anti-ship missiles, the Germans armed themselves with the Kormoran and Kormoran-2 anti-ship missiles, the Italians mastered the AGM-65D Maverick, AGM-88 HARM, Kormoran anti-ship missiles, AIM-9L and GBU-16 bombs. Plus, the Italians got the Tomson-TRT CDLP container laser target designation system.
As a result, after all the modifications, the result was an aircraft that was quite good in terms of performance characteristics and very sophisticated in terms of armament. Good export options loomed, but... alas, the price of the Tornado turned out to be very high. Yes, today, after the “successes” in this field of the F-22 and F-35, the “measly” 30 million dollars from the Tornado look ridiculous, but in the 90s it was a lot of money, and those who want to update their aircraft fleet - ended very quickly.
Only real men from the Saudi dynasty were able to buy the Tornado for their Air Force, and the Saudi Air Force acquired 90 aircraft for itself, including 14 with dual controls and 6 reconnaissance modifications.
By the beginning of the new millennium, the Tornado was among the so-called “strong old men”, that is, outdated aircraft that required major modernization. However, the members of the triumvirate could not agree among themselves and, as a result, it was not possible to organize joint work on modernizing the Tornado. The British chose to remove the Tornado from service; the Germans and Italians began working separately on their own modernizations.
The crucible for Tornado was the war with Iraq. The aircraft was actively used by participants from all three owner countries. During the fighting, the Tornado dropped 950 adjustable Paveway II bombs and 4250 conventional free-fall bombs of 450 and 900 kg, fired 123 ALARM anti-radar missiles at enemy radars, and used 100 sets of JP233 bomb clusters. Losses amounted to 11 vehicles, with eight crew members killed and seven captured.
Many experts agreed that the use of Tornado in real combat was not very effective. It is very strange that such a complex aircraft, packed with equipment, suddenly turned out to be of little use for combat use.
The reason for this was the discrepancy between the formation of attack and defense complexes (despite the fact that the combat survivability complex was very weak) and the conditions in which the aircraft was used.
The use of the Tornado practically as an attack aircraft, striking airfields and command centers from a low altitude, entailed considerable losses. During tests for use in the European theater of operations (naturally, against Soviet troops), the main method of using the Tornado was to fly at low and ultra-low altitudes to attack enemy troops. However, during planning, the effect of enemy counteraction was incorrectly calculated. And in Iraq, it turned out that the modes in which the Tornados reached the target were very advantageous for the numerous Iraqi small-caliber anti-aircraft artillery.
And for the Tornado it would be more advantageous to strike from long distances, away from the close range zone. Defense enemy using high-precision weapon long range. But the Tornados worked point-blank, which resulted in losses and damage to almost all aircraft involved in the operation.
Performance characteristics of the Tornado GR.Mk.1 modification
Wingspan, m - 13,92
Length, m - 16,72
Height, m - 5,95
Wing area, m2 - 31,00
Weight, kg
- empty - 14
- normal takeoff - 20 410
- maximum takeoff - 27
Fuel kg
- in internal tanks – 5
- in PTB 4 x 1 l or 500 x 2 + 1500 x 2 l
Engine: 2 x TRDDF Turbo-Union RB.199-34R Mk.101 x 4 180 kgf
Maximum speed km / h
- at altitude – 2 (338M)
- near the ground - 1 480
Cruising speed, km/h – 1 (010M)
Ferry range, km – 3
Combat radius, km – 1
Practical ceiling, m – 15 240
Crew, people - 2
Armament:
Two 27 mm Mauser BK27 cannons with 180 rounds of ammunition per gun
Combat load - 9000 kg on 7 suspension units:
- 3 nuclear bombs WE.177;
- 2 AIM-9B/L Sidewinder air-to-air missiles;
- 7 anti-radar missiles ALARM;
- 4 Sea Eagle anti-ship missiles;
Up to 3 bombs of different types:
- GBU-15 with optical guidance;
- Paveway with laser guidance;
- 454 kg, 340 kg, 227 kg, 113 kg conventional bombs;
- BL775 cluster bombs;
- napalm tanks and special hanging containers.
Today, the German Air Force is one of the last operators of the Tornado, along with Italy and Saudi Arabia. Less well known is the fact that the German Navy was the first German operator to get its hands on the Tornado. But the last “sea” Tornados were decommissioned in 2005, after which the German Navy completely abandoned the use of high-speed aircraft. But there were times when Tornados flew side by side with Soviet and Russian Su-27s over the waters of the Baltic...
Another interesting feature of the Tornado was the ability to refuel aircraft in the air. In the German and Italian Air Forces, the Tornado could be equipped with a Sargent Fletcher refueling capsule with a capacity of 1400 liters, which was located under the fuselage, using which it was possible to significantly increase the already good range of the Tornado or refuel any other aircraft that had the appropriate equipment .
The British also equipped several of their aircraft to perform the refueling role before the Gulf Operation in 1991, but were in no hurry to use the aircraft.
Well, the cherry on the cake: “Tornado” could well end up serving in the US Air Force!
The idea that the US Air Force would buy a European-designed and manufactured combat aircraft now seems almost unthinkable, but in fact the relevant service of the Air Force has more than once considered the possibility of purchasing a Tornado.
The Tornado version of the IDS was considered as a potential candidate for the creation of an advanced tactical fighter (ETF), but it turned out that the candidate remained a candidate, and its place in the Air Force was taken by the F-15E Strike Eagle, which was precisely created to perform such tasks.
Another potential export operator for Tornado is Japan. There, the Japan Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF) had been looking for a successor to its Mitsubishi F-80 attack aircraft, which primarily carried the load of an anti-ship defense aircraft, since the mid-1s.
It also didn’t work out, the Japanese went a little too far with their wishes: according to the JASDF, the Japanese Air Force’s Tornado was supposed to fly further, which required lengthening the fuselage, or that the development would take a longer fuselage of the Tornado ADV interceptor, and leave the capabilities from the IDS Tornado and partly from the ECR model.
Manufacturers were able to build this. But upon presentation, the Japanese military refused the aircraft and preferred to modify the Mitsubishi F-2 to their requirements.
In general, the world abandoned Tornado. And even with numerous upgrades, today's Tornado IDS is quickly heading toward retirement. The situation might have been different if partner countries had gone ahead with plans to create an improved version known as Tornado 2000.
Plans for the Tornado 2000 were formulated shortly after the 1991 Gulf War, in which the basic Tornado IDS flew a large number of combat missions, with successful results but also painful losses.
It was planned that the Torando-2000 would enter service at the turn of the century and would be further optimized to overcome modern air defense systems at low altitudes. Distinctive features of the new design will be a longer fuselage that can accommodate a larger fuel supply and more modern avionics.
To better overcome enemy air defenses, the forward fuselage had to undergo a fair amount of reconstruction to reduce the cross-section of the radar and change the design of the air intakes. Instead of carrying additional fuel in bulky drop tanks with considerable radar reflection, a semi-conformal fuel package would be installed under the fuselage. Compared to the base Torando, the range of the new aircraft was planned to increase by 25 percent.
With more advanced projects on the horizon, including the Joint Strike Fighter program, which the British soon became involved in, plans to create an optimized strike version of the Tornado were abandoned. So the F-35 shot down the Tornado 2000 on takeoff.
Failed radar killer
One of the most intriguing episodes in the history of Tornado service to the British Crown is the decision to modify a batch of Tornado F3 interceptors for a defense suppression mission. Informally called the "Tornado" EF3, this version was armed with the same ALARM anti-radar missiles that were provided to some British aircraft. fleet "Tornado" GR1.
Unlike the Tornado ECR, for example, the Tornado GR1 and GR4 had very limited capabilities to detect and localize enemy emitters autonomously. On the other hand, the F3 Tornado had a much more powerful Radar Homing and Warning System (RHAWS) with antennas on the tail and wings. These antennas provided a much more accurate emitter location system (ELS).
The EF3 Tornado was quickly developed and ready for deployment to the Middle East in 2003 for the US invasion of Iraq. Considering the improved capabilities that the EF3 Tornado offered, it is somewhat surprising that the decision was made not to send the aircraft to the Persian Gulf, and the program was canceled shortly thereafter.
The second takeoff never happened, and now the Tornado, which entered service in 1979 (the UK finally phased out the aircraft in 2019), is now essentially living out its last days. Yes, on August 14, 2024, Tornado celebrated 50 years since its first flight. But the lack of a full-fledged modernization plan brought to naught the career of this, in principle, very good aircraft.
For comparison, our Su-27 made its first flight a little later, in 1981, was put into service in 1985, and is still in service. But - having 12 modifications. And moreover, the latest evolutions of the aircraft in the form of the Su-34 and Su-35 are generally accepted masterpieces, which are very dangerous opponents for both those in the sky and those on the ground.
Development, that is, its complete absence due to the fact that “there was no agreement among the comrades,” put an end to a rather good aircraft. And now, half a century after its first flight, the Tornado is living out its days in the air forces of Germany, Italy and Saudi Arabia, awaiting replacement by more modern machines.
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