Combat Aircraft Journal Magazine Tornado at 50 Special Issue

The 50 years of the Panavia Tornado span a remarkable period of history. The aircraft was designed to fight a high-intensity conflict in the Cold War world. When the likelihood of that war suddenly disappeared, the type successfully adapted to play a significant role in counterinsurgency and low-intensity warfare operations.

Initially designed as an ultra-low-level ground attack aircraft, using ‘dumb’ bombs and some missiles to hit its targets, it was developed to carry an extensive range of specialist precision munitions. Soon, the Tornado evolved to operate a wide range of other tasks. It became a successful reconnaissance platform, maritime attack aircraft, and a specialist Suppression of Enemy Air Defence (SEAD) platform, and it was ultimately adapted to become a successful interceptor.

The 1991 Gulf War marked the Tornado’s combat debut as the Cold War collapsed. Almost continuously since then, Tornados have been engaged in combat operations somewhere around the world. In thousands of missions over Kosovo, Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Syria, and Yemen, British, German, Italian, and sometimes Saudi Arabian Tornados have demonstrated the versatility of this remarkable aircraft.

Retired by the British in 2019, it participated in combat operations over Syria until just before its withdrawal. The Tornado is now in the twilight of its operational career. Indeed, it has almost come full circle. In the early 1980s, British, German, and Italian Tornados sat at airfields across Europe on constant Quick Reaction Alert, armed with nuclear weapons ready to respond to Soviet aggression.

Today, as plans advance for the final retirement of the last remaining aircraft, it is the necessity to maintain them in a nuclear alert role again which ensures their continuing operational relevance 50 years after the first prototype took to the air.