UK Tornado GR4s to get rear cockpit upgrade

Date Posted: 05-Dec-2003

JANE’S DEFENCE WEEKLY – DECEMBER 10, 2003

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UK places Tornado cockpit upgrade
CRAIG HOYLE JDW Aviation Editor
London

BAE Systems has won a contract worth £82 million ($141 million) to conduct a rear cockpit upgrade to further enhance the operational capabilities of the UK Royal Air Force’s (RAF’s) Tornado GR4 strike aircraft.

Dubbed the Tornado Advanced Radar Display and Information System (TARDIS), the design will replace the 1970s-vintage Combined Radar and Projected Map Display currently used by the ground-attack aircraft’s navigator. The modernisation effort will increase crew situational awareness by providing the rear crew member with a new radar and map processor on a flat-panel display, increasing commonality with the aircraft’s pilot.

Installation of the new equipment will commence next July, with a projected in-service date of August 2006. “We will fit TARDIS equipment at RAF stations during routine maintenance to minimise disruption, cost and downtime for the GR4 fleet,” said Mark Greenhalgh, director of strike operations for BAE Systems Customer Solutions & Support. This is in line with the Tornado Future Support model, announced earlier this year by the UK Defence Logistics Organisation, which seeks to maintain the current readiness level of the GR4 fleet (Jane’s Defence Weekly 18 June).

BAE Systems has been working towards the rear cockpit upgrade for several years under a development contract from the UK Ministry of Defence (JDW 20 June 2001). The UK company delivered its last of 142 Tornado GR4s to the RAF under a mid-life update programme worth more than £1 billion on 10 June. Operations of the type are expected to continue until at least 2018.