Very broad selection of aircraft mentioned in thread title, divided between strike/attack aircraft and those aircraft designed to intercept them with some airframe types serving as both. One aircraft you haven’t included in the title is the MiG-31, the ultimate interceptor aircraft, and which is, along with the F-14, really is the aircraft most comparable with the Tornado ADV. All three of these aircraft where originally optimized for the interception of strategic bombers such as the Tu-22M/Tu-160/Tu-95, B-52/B-1Bs along with any of the munitions such as ALCMs already launched by such attacking aircraft. All three aircraft are necessarily quite large aircraft, both in order to be able to carry a respectable weapon load at a better than normal range along with the associated powerful radar system and a two man crew. This is of course a specification clearly at odds with creating an aircraft with good WVR ability. But this is was a compromise that the USN, the RAF and the Soviet PVO, three of the most important air arms in the cold war, located on opposite sides of the Iron curtain, were willing to make. All 3 very different air forces where happy to employ relatively unmaneuverable ‘missile trucks’ because of course in the area of planned deployment such aircraft are unlikely to run into smaller and nimbler air superiority types. No Tornado ADV is going to run into a MiG-29 in the North Atlantic, no MiG-31 is ever going to encounter an F-15 in the northern reaches of Soviet Siberia. All 3 aircraft should be judged solely on their abilities as bomber interceptors only.
Incidentally, I would never call the Tornado ADV a fast aircraft, but why is the MiG-31 so fast (Mach 2.83), when one considers the subsonic cruising speeds of the B-52 and B-1B as they entered Soviet airspace? Did the Soviets ever consider adapting the Su-24 Fencer as a PVO bomber interceptor instead of starting with the MiG-25. Much in the same way as the F-111A strike aircraft was converted into the F-111B Navy fighter (which had the potential to become a capable bomber interceptor, if it wasn’t so useless as a carrier borne aircraft). Converting the Su-24 into an interceptor should have been straightforward as regards changes to the airframe; replacing the fixed inlets with variable inlets to allow a Mach 2+ capability (remember the Su-24 was already equipped with real fighter aircraft engines – in shape of the Lyulka AL-21 of the MiG-23, or even the AL-31 of the Su-27 at a later stage) and of course, fitting the appropriate avionics and weapons systems (Zaslon and AA-9 etc.). The cost of development should have been cheaper than that of the MiG-31 and with cheaper operating costs (and with a lot more commonality of airframes and powerplants with the rest of the Soviet airforces) while providing an aircraft with potentially greater range/endurance.
F-111Bs below
The F3 was fast low down in the weeds and may have been able to do a dash 2.2 clean, but it was limited by its design (However, remember the Mk104 engine gave 10% more power than the GR1’s Mk 103 in reheat and the back end of the aircraft gave a little bit less drag, plus the front was a little bit more pointed, along with the wing gloves.
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