Panavia Tornado
The Panavia Tornado is a family of twin-engine, variable-sweep wing multirole combat aircraft, which was jointly developed and manufactured by Italy, the United Kingdom, and West Germany.
There are three primary Tornado variants:
1 ) The Tornado IDS (interdictor/strike) fighter-bomber,
2) The suppression of enemy air defences Tornado ECR (electronic combat/reconnaissance)
3)The Tornado ADV (air defence variant) interceptor aircraft.
The purpose of Panavia Tornado was the low-level penetration of enemy defences.Panavia Tornado have Variable wing geometry, allowing for minimal drag during the critical low-level dash towards a well-prepared enemy. Advanced navigation and flight computers, including the then-innovative fly-by-wire system, greatly reduced the workload of the pilot during low-level flight and eased control of the aircraft. For long range bombing missions, the Tornado has a retractable refuelling probe.
The Tornado features a tandem-seat cockpit, crewed by a pilot and a navigator/weapons officer; both electromechanical and electro-optical controls are used to fly the aircraft and manage its systems.An array of dials and switches are mounted on either side of a centrally placed CRT monitor, controlling the navigational, communications, and weapons-control computers
The primary flight controls of the Tornado are a fly-by-wire hybrid, consisting of an analogue quadruplex Command and Stability Augmentation System (CSAS) connected to a digital Autopilot & Flight Director System (AFDS)
The Tornado incorporates a combined navigation/attack Doppler radar that simultaneously scans for targets and conducts fully automated terrain-following for low-level flight operations; being readily able to conduct all-weather hands-off low-level flight was considered one of the core advantages of the Tornado. The Tornado ADV has a different radar system to other variants, designated AI.24 Foxhunter, as it is designed for air defence operations; it is capable of continuously keeping track of up to 20 targets at ranges of up to 160 kilometres (100 mi)
The Tornado was one of the earliest aircraft to be fitted with a digital data bus for data transmission. A link 16 JTIDS integration on the F3 variant enabled the exchange of radar and other sensory information with nearby friendly aircraft
Some Tornado variants carry different avionics and equipment, depending on their mission. The Tornado ECR is devoted to Suppression of Enemy Air Defences (SEAD) missions, operated by Germany and Italy. The Tornado ECR is equipped with an emitter-locator system (ELS) to spot radar use.German ECRs have a Honeywell infrared imaging system for reconnaissance flights. RAF and RSAF Tornados have the Laser Range Finder and Marked Target Seekers (LRMTS) for targeting laser-guided munitions
General characteristics
Crew: 2
Length: 16.72 m
Wingspan: 13.91 m at 25° wing sweep, 8.60 m at 67° wing sweep (45.6 ft / 28.2 ft)
Height: 5.95 m
Wing area: 26.6 m2
Empty weight: 13,890 kg
Loaded weight: 20,240 kg
Max. takeoff weight: 28,000 kg
Powerplant: 2 × Turbo-Union RB199-34R Mk 103 afterburning turbofans
Dry thrust: 43.8 kN (9,850 lbf) each
Thrust with afterburner: 76.8 kN each
Performance
Maximum speed: Mach 2.2 at 9,000 m altitude
Range: 1,390 km
Ferry range: 3,890 km
Service ceiling: 15,240 m
Rate of climb: 76.7 m/s
Thrust/weight: 0.77
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