Panavia Tornado F3 – ZH553
Specification
Technical Specification
- Info here
Dimensions
- Wingspan: 8.60 m (28 ft 2½ in) / 13.91 m (45 ft 7½ in) .
- Weight: empty 14,500 kg (31,970 lb), max. 27,986 kg (61,700 lb).
Performance
- Maximum speed: Mach 2.2 (2,400 km/h, 1,490 mph) .
- Maximum altitude: 15,240m (50,000 ft).
- Endurance (without inflight-refuelling): 2 hr combat air patrol at
- 560–740 km (300–400 nmi, 345–460 mi) from base.
Description
The Panavia Tornado was developed as a Multi Role Combat Aircraft (MRCA) by a multi-national project between Great Britain, Germany and Italy. It was designed to undertake multiple missions including ground attack, naval strike, reconnaissance and air-interception and defence. The original prototype first flew on 14th August 1974 and the interdictor/strike version (the IDS or GR model) entered service from 1980 with the Royal Air Force, the Luftwaffe, the Italian Air Force and the Royal Saudi Arabian Air Force.
The Air Defence Variant (ADV) was developed by the United Kingdom alone as a dedicated long-range interceptor fighter to provide an effective defence against Soviet long-range, high and low-altitude, subsonic and supersonic bombers . The prototype F2 version first flew on 27th October 1979 with the initial production examples entering service with the RAF’s No. 229 Operational Conversion Unit RAF in 1986.
The main differences between the IDS/GR version and the ADV/F versions are:
- A fuselage stretch of 1.36 m to allow the carriage of four long-range missiles under the belly.
- Fox Hunter Radar with a longer nose radome.
- An additional internal fuel tank.
- Installation of 1, as opposed to 2 Mauser cannon
- Modification of the swing-wing and its systems
The F3 is the definitive version of the Tornado ADV with improved RB.199 Mk 104 engines and upgraded armament, radar and avionics systems.
