The Panavia Tornado Air Defence Variant (ADV) was a long-range, twin-engine swing-wing interceptor aircraft developed by the European Panavia Aircraft GmbH consortium. It was a specialised derivative of the multirole Panavia Tornado.
Development of the Tornado ADV formally commenced in 1976, it was primarily intended to intercept Soviet bombers as they were traversing across the North Sea with the aim of preventing a successful air-launched nuclear attack against the United Kingdom. In this capacity, it was equipped with a powerful radar and beyond-visual-range missiles. Having been based on the multinational Tornado IDS, development was relatively quick. Originally, the programme was solely pursued by the United Kingdom. The first prototype performed its maiden flight on 27 October 1979; two further prototypes followed in the year after. The initial production model, the Tornado F2, entered service with the Royal Air Force (RAF) in 1986.
The Tornado F2, which was only produced in small numbers, lacked key features such as radar, due to development issues. Accordingly, it was quickly followed by the Tornado F3, which was introduced in 1989. Featuring optimised RB.199 Mk 104 engines, an expanded missile capacity, and automatic wing sweep control system amongst other improvements, the Tornado F-3 became the definitive variant operated by the RAF. It was also operated the Italian Air Force (AMI) and the Royal Saudi Air Force (RSAF). The AMI leased the type during the 2000s as an interim aircraft while awaiting delivery of multirole Eurofighter Typhoon fighters. During its service life, the Tornado ADV received several upgrade programmes which enhanced its aerial capabilities and enabled it to perform the Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses (SEAD) mission in addition to its interceptor duties. Ultimately, both the RAF and RSAF retired their Tornado ADV fleets in the early 2010s; the type has been replaced in both services by the Eurofighter Typhoon.
Design and development
Background
The origins of the Tornado ADV can be traced back to the issuing of RAF Air Staff Requirement 395 (or ASR.395), which called for a long-range interceptor to replace both the English Electric Lightning F6 and McDonnell Douglas Phantom FGR2 then in service with the Royal Air Force (RAF). The necessity to procure a modern interceptor was primarily driven by the threat posed by the sizable strategic bomber fleet then being operated by the Soviet Union, in particular the Tupolev Tu-22M, a recently introduced supersonic bomber. Even at the onset of development on what would become the Tornado IDS (interdictor/strike) in 1968, the possibility of a variant dedicated to air defence had been quietly considered. While several American aircraft had been evaluated for meeting this requirement, they were all determined to be unsuitable.
Despite Britain's strong interest in the air defense concept, it proved to be unattractive to the other European partners on the Tornado project, leading to its development being pursued solely by the United Kingdom. On 4 March 1976, the development of the Tornado ADV was approved and it was announced that 165 of the 385 Tornados that were on order for the RAF would be of the air defence variant. In 1976, the British Aircraft Corporation was contracted to provide three prototype aircraft.
On 9 August 1979, the first prototype was rolled out at Warton; it performed its maiden flight on 27 October 1979, piloted by David Eagles. The second and third development aircraft made their first flights on 18 July and 18 November 1980 respectively. The third prototype was primarily used in the testing of the new Marconi/Ferranti AI.24 Foxhunter airborne interception radar. During flight testing, the Tornado ADV demonstrated its noticeably superior supersonic acceleration to the Tornado IDS, even while carrying a full weapons loadout. The test programme was greatly aided by the use of real-time telemetry, which broadcast live data from in-flight aircraft back to technicians on the ground.