Overview

The Panavia Tornado is a family of aircraft that were developed jointly by the United Kingdom, West Germany (now Germany) and Italy. The Tornado ADV was the fighter version designed for interceptor roles while the Tornado IDS was for the strike role. The Tornado ECR was a SEAD developed for West Germany and Italy but was not operated by the UK. The Tornado was also operated by the Royal Saudi Air Force.

History

In 1991, Saudi, British and Italian Tornadoes were used in the Gulf War against Iraq. The Tornado was also used in Operation Southern Watch, Operation Allied Force in 1999 (which was Germany's first air war since 1945), War on Terror and the US-led Invasion of Iraq in 2003.

The RAF retired the Tornado in 2019 with Germany, Italy and Saudi Arabia being the operators left as of 2023.