UK Defence Forum

arfah wrote:

The Armchair Soldier wrote:The PM has just claimed in Parliament that the Tornado's RAPTOR pod accounts for 60% of all surveillance intel against ISIL. Quite impressive if true.

He's also stated at 12:50 in the HOC that;

"A Tornado hovering over the Isle of Wight can read the hands on Big Ben such is the capability of the Raptor pod."

bobp wrote:I remember seeing a photo taken in the 1970's over the Isle of white and indeed you could read the hands of big ben. The camera was fitted to a Canberra sadly now out of service.

The Armchair Soldier wrote:The PM has just claimed in Parliament that the Tornado's RAPTOR pod accounts for 60% of all surveillance intel against ISIL. Quite impressive if true.

Germany plans to develop new fighter jet to replace Tornado
Sun, Dec 20 17:09 PM GMT


BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany plans to develop a new fighter jet to replace Tornado jets in the long term and it aims to hold initial talks with European partners in 2016 about what features they want in the aircraft, according to a document seen by Reuters on Sunday.

A draft document from the Defence Ministry on 'military aviation strategy' said it was still unclear whether the new jet would be manned or unmanned. It said it was also possible that the jet would be designed for both options and then be flown with or without a pilot depending on the type of deployment.

As it would be a European project, it is likely that one or more European companies would be chosen to develop the jet. The Tornado jet, which Germany has been using since 1981 - although it now also has the newer Eurofighter jet - was also made in an international consortium called Panavia.

Gabriele wrote:It might be an attempt to enter FCAS by any other name.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many (a) Tornados and (b) Typhoons are fitted with the TCAAS II Collision Warning System.

I refer the hon. Member to the answers I gave on 3 February 2016 to Question 24361 and on 1 February 2016 to Question 24213, to the hon. Member for Islington South and Finsbury (Ms Thornberry).

Twenty-five years since the Royal Air Force helped liberate Kuwait from Saddam Hussein’s forces, an RAF Tornado GR4 has been painted in the iconic Gulf War ‘desert pink’ paint scheme to honour the aircraft type’s almost continuous operational service since then.
The ‘desert pink’ Tornado, number ZG750, is based at RAF Lossiemouth with XV(R) Squadron, which saw active service during Operation Granby, the UK’s codename for the Gulf War. The aircraft carries 11 ‘battle honours’ on its tail, recalling the Tornado’s almost continuous service on operations worldwide since 1991.