Panavia Tornado Multi Role Combat Aircraft

The Panavia Tornado is a multi-role combat aircraft that was developed and built by a consortium of different countries: the United Kingdom, Italy and Germany. First flying in 1974, the Tornado was designed for a variety of missions such as low-level penetration, strike, interdiction and air defence. One of the distinctive features of the Tornado is its variable sweep wing, which can be adjusted in-flight to improve the aircraft’s performance. Powered by two turbofan Turbo-Union RB199 or EJ200 engines, the Tornado is capable of carrying a variety of weapons such as precision-guided munitions, air-to-air missiles, anti-ship missiles, cluster bombs and nuclear weapons. The Tornado gained recognition for the role it played during the Gulf War of 1990-1991, when it was used by coalition forces in the low-level precision bombing role. In the UK, the Tornado was replaced by the Eurofighter Typhoon, another aircraft that was designed and built by a consortium of different European countries.

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