In 1968 a group of nations came together to investigate procuring a replacement for the venerable Lockheed F-104G Starfighter. So it was that West Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, and Canada formed a working group to look at potential replacements for Lockheed's 'Missile with a Man In', initially under a project titled the Multi Role Aircraft (MRA) but later called the Multi Role Combat Aircraft (MRCA).
Great Britain joined the MRCA group in 1968 and shortly afterwards a memorandum of agreement was drafted between Britain, West Germany, and Italy. While the MRCA project intended to produce a single-seat replacement for the F-104G, and a two-seat strike fighter for Britain and West Germany, Canada and Belgium pulled out of these discussions in 1969.
For Great Britain the need was urgent as in 1965 its own MRCA project, the TSR-2, had been cancelled by government and numerous proposals made during the intervening years had failed to progress beyond the drawing board. While orders for the SEPECAT Jaguar and McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom had been placed, no true replacement for the post war V-Bombers had been found, with an order for the General Dynamics F-111 placed, and then also cancelled.
The four remaining partner nations - United Kingdom, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands, formed Panavia Aircraft GmbH on 26 March1969, though the Netherlands then decided to withdraw in 1970.
Panavia, by now then a tri-national consortium, would push ahead with the MRCA project and was comprised of three well-known aircraft manufacturers - British Aerospace, Messerschmitt-Bolkow-Blohm (MBB) and Aeritalia.
MRCA was an ambitious project with essentially a single airframe being designed to eventually replace a host of existing operational aircraft - Starfighter, Vulcan, Buccaneer, Canberra, Jaguar (recon), Phantom and Lightning. A further consortium was also formed under the name Turbo Union to produce the MRCA's new RB199 engine, this being a further tri-national effort between Rolls Royce, MTU and FIAT.
By May 1970 the various proposed concepts had been whittled down to just two; a single seat Panavia 100 (West Germany's preference), and the twin seat Panavia 200 (the RAF preference) and it was this latter design which would eventually become the Tornado.
The three governments declared their intention to proceed with the project in September 1971 although interestingly, at this stage the aircraft was intended solely for the low-level strike mission. It was the RAF, finally deciding that it definitely needed an air defence fighter / interceptor, which then initiated the development of the Tornado ADV (Air Defence Variant).
The first flight of the Tornado took place on 14th August 1974 at MBB's Manching factory with a second flight from BAE Warton in Lancashire on 30th October. Just two years later there were no less than eight prototypes airborne and the first Italian aircraft took to the air on 5th February 1977.
A total of 922 Tornado aircraft were built and delivered to all nations, including, as a result of the 'Al Yamamah I' contract, the sale of forty eight IDS (Interdictor Strike) and 24 ADV models for the Royal Saudi Air Force. The first flight of a RSAF Tornado IDS was on March 26th 1986, and the first Saudi ADV was delivered on February 9th 1989 with Saudi Tornados flying operations during the first Gulf War. In June 1993 the 'Al Yamamah II' contract was signed, the main element of which was an additional forty eight IDS airframes.
In September 2006 the Saudi government signed a further contract with BAE Systems to upgrade the aircraft in the Saudi Air Force fleet which it plans to continue operating until 2020. It is these aircraft which have been seen flying from BAE Warton as part of the Tornado Sustainment Programme.
Production of the Panavia Tornado finally ended in 1998 with the last aircraft, a RSAF IDS, completed by British Aerospace on 24th September.
Despite some well-documented hiccups along the way, the Tornado is still going from strength to strength and with the RAF GR.4 recently deploying for the first time to Afghanistan in support of Op HERRICK it is likely that we will see these aircraft in RAF colours for another ten years or more.
The current GR.4 variant operated by the RAF entered service in 1998, six years after the first flight of the GR.4 development aircraft and a host of upgrades that make them almost indistinguishable from the GR.1 airframes that originally entered service. Along the way the project has seen a number of variations including the GR.1B, operated for a time specifically in the anti-shipping role, and the GR.1A and GR.4A variants which operated as reconnaissance specialists. Both the Luftwaffe and Aeronautica Militaire continue to operate the Tornado IDS in the strike, electronic warfare and recon roles. Two German Tornado aircraft are similarly painted to commemorate Panavia's 40th but it is as yet unclear whether the event has been marked in Italy.
For the RAF's ADV aircraft, the Tornado F.3, the future is not so rosy. With just a single unit remaining, 111 Sqn at RAF Leuchars, these aircraft are expected to leave active service within the next twelve months. Their replacement of course will be the Eurofighter Typhoon, another aircraft produced for Great Britain, Germany and Italy by a consortium and, ironically enough, one which used the same Panavia management model which resulted in Tornado.
A fitting tribute to the Tornado GR.4 was provided in Global Aviation Resource's interview with XV(R) Sqn CO, Wing Commander Mike Saunders earlier this year and, in commemorating Panavia's 40th, it is an appropriate one with which to end this look at the consortium and the aircraft it developed.
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2009-09-29 - Gavin Weaver
Really enjoy reading this and all the other articles, keep up the good work guys!
Cheers
Gav
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