// TORNADO TRIBUTEa central role in the deployment cycle to
Akrotiri before completing its final mission
over Iraq and Syria on December 14, 2017.
She said: “It was very poignant for us
to deliver the squadron’s final flight as
an operational mission because, since its
re-formation at RAF Marham in January
2015, 12 Squadron has been at the very
forefront of UK operations to defeat [IS].”
Shader missions
As RAF Marham prepares to receive the brand
new F-35B Lightning Force this summer, the
two remaining GR4 units – Nos IX(B) and
31 squadrons – continue to operate from a
small enclave on the base. Acting as a pooled
resource, personnel and aircraft will continue
to support Operation Shader right to the very
end of the Tornado’s service life next year.
The comparison between those original
Operation Granby sorties of 1991 and today’s
Shader tactics is stark. One pilot told AFM:
“We are solely using smart weapons now and
all of our missions are flown at medium level.
“The jet is really well equipped for the
close air support [CAS] role. The flash-
to-bang of getting a target from a JTAC
[Joint Terminal Attack Controller] on the
ground to inputting the co-ordinates into
the weapon and releasing is so fast – with
DMS [Dual-Mode Seeker] Brimstone, for
example, we can do that in under a minute!
“We have Link 16 now, so we can get a
message with co-ordinates from the ground
or generate them with the pod. The jet
at the moment is as good as it will ever
be. It’s right at the top of its game.”
Whereas the missions of Operation Granby
were fraught with ground fire threats, the
Shader missions carry a different concern:
that of having to eject over territory held by
militants. It meant that in the early days
of the campaign the crews formulated very
clear plans in the event of emergencies.
As the operation has evolved, aircrew have
been known to fly missions in excess of seven
hours. Initially many of the targets were
allocated by command and control assets, and
the Tornado crews would receive a message to
investigate any potential target before working
the approval process to prosecute, or not.
This has developed into working more with
ground forces as IS has been degraded. In
addition, the RAPTOR (Reconnaissance
Airborne Pod for Tornado) has proved
itself to be extremely valuable, often
accounting for some of the most important
information-gathering in theatre, albeit
harvested during somewhat benign sorties.Tornado evolution
Having originally been designed with
a service life of 4,000 flight hours, two
life extension programmes pushed the
GR4’s clearance out to 8,000 hours.
Flt Sgt Del Hodgson has worked on
the Tornado for 25 years, starting on
the GR1 at Laarbruch in Germany.
Indeed, he was involved with the
project to retrofit the Tornado Infra-Red
Reconnaissance System (TIRRS) on the
original GR1As of No II(AC) Squadron.
“The aircraft’s age means we need to
complete a lot more directed inspections, sowe raise more job cards and she’s more labour-
intensive, but that’s just an age thing,” he said.
“Our fleet leader is around 7,500 hours,
but although the flying hours are high,
the kind of flying we’re doing now up at
altitude means the fatigue is quite benign.”
The service teams on the squadrons look
after first line maintenance, whereas depth
maintenance has passed to BAE Systems
under the Availability Transformation:
Tornado Aircraft Contract (ATTAC).
“The last aircraft is coming out of depth
shortly,” said Hodgson, adding that the fleet
is gently slimming down as aircraft are sent
to RTP (Reduce To Produce), which breaks
them down for use as spares sources.
At Akrotiri the engineers are working
hard to maintain the operational tempo.
They work 12-hour shifts with one day
off in 14. The Tornados fly six days per
week and, as well as the regular line
maintenance, Primary and Primary Star
service intervals of approximately 204 and
400 hours respectively must be completed
by the Tornado Support Team. These are
schedules that require the checking, removal
and replacement of key components.
The heartbeat of today’s GR4 lies in the
original upgrade that took the jet from
the GR1 to the GR4 standard, which was
completed by BAE Systems at Warton. While
on the surface this appeared to add little
to the aircraft (the only obvious external
modification was the new forward-looking
infrared sensor under the nose), the avionics
were dramatically upgraded to act as the
bedrock for the future raft of improvements.68 http://www.airforcesmonthly.com
Tornado
Tribute
Left top: The front cockpit of the Tornado GR4
features a single multifunction display that can
show a moving map or imagery from the targeting
pod. Jamie Hunter
Left below: The rear cockpit retains the
monochrome TV-tabs plus a central TARDIS
(Tornado Advanced Radar Display and Information
System) display, which replaced the old fi lm-based
Combined Radar and Projected Map Display
(CRPMD). Jamie Hunter
Right: Taken back in 2010, this shot of a No 31
Squadron GR4 shows the old No II(AC) Squadron
HAS complex, which today forms the fi nal home of
the RAF Tornado GR Force. Jamie Hunter