August 14, 2024, marked the 50th anniversary of the first flight of the Panavia Tornado combat aircraft.
Nearly 1,000 units of this iconic supersonic aircraft were produced in its several versions (IDS, for ground attack and interdiction, ADS for air defense and ECR for electronic warfare and reconnaissance) during the course of the last five decades.
The Tornado was developed at the height of the Cold War by a British-German-Italian consortium and, after entering service in 1979, quickly became the mainstay of the the air forces of these three countries.
As of August 2024, both Germany’s Luftwaffe and Italy’s Aeronautica Militare continue to operate the type. Both the Italian and German Tornados are slotted for retirement soon, and, in both cases, will be replaced by the F-35A.
Italy will phase out its last Tornado aircraft in 2025 and Germany expects to do the same progressively between 2026 and 2030. The UK’s Royal Air Force retired its last Tornado fighters in 2019.
The sole export customer for the Tornado was Saudi Arabia, which purchased 120 jets and, of which approximately 80 of them are still in operation.
Although designed to face the Soviet threat in Europe, the Tornado, in its multiple variants, ended up playing an active role in many of the post-Cold War conflicts. This includes the First Gulf War, where they played a frontline role in the initial stages of the air campaign and several were shot down in the process, and conflicts in the Balkans, the Middle East and Afghanistan.
In March 2024, the German Air Force and Airbus unveiled a special livery on one of its remaining active Tornados in anticipation of the 50th anniversary.