RAF Tornado GR1
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Tornado_GR1.jpg
The RAF Tornado GR1 was the first generation version of the Panavia Tornado strike aircraft of the Royal Air Force. It first came into service in the early 1980s and was designed for ultra-low level penetration strikes on Warsaw Pact targets in Europe using both conventional and nuclear weapons, e.g WE177. However, the end of the Cold War precluded it from ever seeing that use.
Its actual combat debut came in 1991 in the Gulf War. Nearly 60 GR1s were deployed by the United Kingdom to bases in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. The main initial task of the GR1s was to use the JP233 runway denial weapon on Iraqi airfields. However, this role and other operations were costly for the force. Half a dozen GR1 aircraft were shot down by the Iraqi defences.
Following the end of the initial phase of the war, the GR1s were switched to medium level strike missions. However they lacked both equipment and training to complete these missions properly. In an emergency deployment, the UK sent out a detachment of Blackburn Buccaneer aircraft which had a laser designation capability, allowing the GR1s to drop precision guided weapons. A further crash program was initiated which saw some GR1s fitted with the TIALD laser designation system.
Many of the shortcomings of the GR1's performance in the war were addressed in a revised mid-life update programme. This update, to Tornado GR4 standard would improve capability in the medium level role while maintaining the Tornado's exceptional low-level penetration capability. In the aftermath of the war, British forces remained in the Gulf, with GR1s being based at Ali al Salem airbase in Kuwait for operations over the southern no fly zone. GR1s based there took part in Operation Desert Fox in 1998.
1999 saw further action for the GR1 in the Kosovo War. Aircraft operated from RAF Bruggen in Germany during the first part of the war, flying precision strike missions. They later moved to a base on Corsica shortly before the war ended to bring them closer to the combat zone.
Following the Kosovo War, the GR1 was phased out as more and more aircraft were upgraded to the GR4 standard. Shortly after the turn of the century this process was complete.
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