At long last

LAST EDITED ON 27-04-01 AT 12:26 PM (GMT)[p]I was beginning to wonder whether FOAS would come onstream before I saw this news!!!

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Tornado GR4 Fully Cleared For Service

(Source : UK Ministry of Defence ; issued April25, 2001)

The Royal Air Force’s most up to date version of the Tornado, the GR4, has been declared fully operational.

The aircraft features significantly improved capabilities, including Forward Looking Infra Red vision equipment, updated avionics, and modern flight controls.

The GR4 was cleared for use in training last July, but some software problems delayed full service clearance. These have been resolved by an intensive testing programme.

The aircraft will now be available to be deployed on future operations, including with the UK’s Joint Rapid Reaction Force.

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GR.4 Details:

The new updated version of the IDS, Tornado GR.4 took to the air for the first time on the 4th April 1997 from the BAe facility at Warton in Lancashire.

It was the first of 142 RAF Tornado’s to be upgraded. Improvements over the GR.1 standard include provision of a Forward Looking Infra-Red (FLIR) system and Night Vision Goggle (NVG) capability. Other major improvements include changes to the on-board defence systems, computer systems, new cockpit displays and controls. These changes will allow the aircraft to operate more effectively when flying at low-level, especially at night.

Flight trials have already proven that the new Tornado aims to be an effective weapons platform by flying at night in blizzard conditions and through mountainous terrain, conditions that would normally keep other aircraft grounded. This has the added benefit of reducing the risk of interception by enemy fighters.

Deliveries of the new aircraft began in May 1998, with the first aircraft going to RAF Bruggen in Germany. It is hoped that each aircraft will take approximately 8 days to upgrade, with all 142 aircraft completed by 2003.

BAe will introduce further enhancements to the Tornado GR.4 fleet through the provision of an integrated Laser Inertial Navigator, Global Positioning System and a Ground Proximity Warning System. This will see an increase in performance to the Tornado’s navigation system and provide the pilot with both audio and visual warnings in potential Controlled Fight into Terrain (CFIT) situations. The Tornado pilot will also have the benefit of HOTAS ( Hands-on -Throttle-and-Stick) which allows the pilot to control different aspects of the aircraft without taking his/her hands of the controls.

Further enhancements to the aircraft will be the ability to carry a wide range of weapons such as the BAe Sea Eagle Missile which presently can only be carried by the Tornado GR.1B. Another upgrade to the fleet will be the ability of all aircraft to carry the TIALD (Thermal Imaging and Laser Designation) pod, which was successfully introduced during the Gulf War of 1990-91.

Flight testing will also see the integration of the new Storm Shadow cruise missile and Brimstone anti-tank weapon onto the Tornado, a weapon which is also planned for the WAH-63 Longbow Apache Helicopter and the Harrier GR.7. The aircraft will also be cleared to carry a new Reconnaissance pod called RAPTOR (Reconnaissance Airborne Pod Tornado). Future planned enhancements include the provision and installation of a SIFF (Successor Identify Friend or Foe) system, a new main computer and a nose radar upgrade.