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RSAF Tornado fiest pic ever ?


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8 hours ago, Kes said:

GR1a? recce version?

 

 . . . Kes

 

Yes, the IRLS windows are a dead giveaway.

 

Officially it should be designated as an ECR rather than a GR.1A, though.

 

Cheers,

 

Andre

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3 hours ago, Hook said:

 

Yes, the IRLS windows are a dead giveaway.

 

Officially it should be designated as an ECR rather than a GR.1A, though.

 

Cheers,

 

Andre

 

The Saudi ones aren't ECRs though, they are the recce version of the IDS

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59 minutes ago, Dave Fleming said:

 

The Saudi ones aren't ECRs though, they are the recce version of the IDS

 

Ah, thanks for the correction.

 

Cheers,

 

Andre

 

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Actually they don't. They are either IDS, ADV or ECR as far as Panavia are concerned, with no distinction between sub-variants. The late, lamented World Air Power Journal had a tremendous two-part, in-depth article on Tornado variants, and even they had trouble when it came to nomenclature.

 

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1 hour ago, T7 Models said:

Actually they don't. They are either IDS, ADV or ECR as far as Panavia are concerned, with no distinction between sub-variants.

 

So are/were GR.1As ECRs in Panavia eyes then?

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1 hour ago, Seahawk said:

 

So are/were GR.1As ECRs in Panavia eyes then?

 

No, they are classed as IDS. The ECR is a very different (and much later) modification to the jet and the ECR is only used by the Germans and Italians.

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The GR.1A differed from the GR.1 only in the installation of the TIRRS (Tornado Infra-Red Reconnaissance System) in the forward fuselage, with the deletion of the two 27mm cannon to make way for it. It was otherwise a standard GR.1. Following the mid-life upgrade to GR.4/4A standard TIRRS was superseded by the RAPTOR pod which could be fitted to any RAF IDS aircraft. As a result the RAF dropped the 'A' suffix, and all RAF IDS aircraft were subsequently designated GR.4.

 

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Having to hand a book on Op Telic to hand I had a quick look through and although still calling the recce aircraft GR.4As there are no guns fitted. Probably cost to much to have them fitted, as I don't many of them had them fitted in the first place.

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On ‎5‎/‎17‎/‎2017 at 2:57 AM, Hook said:

 

Yes, the IRLS windows are a dead giveaway.

 

 

At the risk of being a pedant, the IRLS is located in the fairing on the bottom of the fuselage beneath the windows.  The windows were for "side-looking infra-red" (SLIR) sensors.

 

I'll get my coat...or, rather, my anorak!

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The Saudi Tornado IDS have been reported as being essentially to the same equipment standard as the RAF GR.1 and GR.1A and went through an upgrade programme said to be very similar to the RAF's GR.4 and GR.4A.     The system upgrade that brought the GR.1 to GR.4 standard was also applied to the GR.1A to create the GR.4A which remained without cannon and continued initially to use the internal reconnaissance suite.     Later this was deactivated although retained in place for centre-of-gravity reasons when the podded RAPTOR system was adopted and as use of this was predicated around software updates it could also be carried by any suitably updated GR.4 so consequently the former GR.4A as mentioned were thereafter used as standard albeit gun-less GR.4 and spread around the Tornado force to even out flying hours.

 

According to one 12 Sqn. pilot I spoke to the former GR.4A were quite obviously limited operationally by their lack of a cannon in an escalating show-of-force scenario and that on transit flights and peacetime deployments the remaining deactivated reconnaissance equipment and lack of a cannon ammunition bay barely left enough room for a safety pin kit far less the crews personal bags. 

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14 hours ago, mhaselden said:

 

At the risk of being a pedant, the IRLS is located in the fairing on the bottom of the fuselage beneath the windows.  The windows were for "side-looking infra-red" (SLIR) sensors.

 

I'll get my coat...or, rather, my anorak!

 

When you're right, you're right - thanks!

 

Cheers

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  • 2 weeks later...

Although I'm late to the party in this thread, I find it an excellent read. Thank you to all who contributed. If I may ask one question: If I'm hearing this right, the GR.1 is in fact an IDS? Are the differences shown anywhere online via photo comparison etc?

 

TIA

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7 hours ago, Blue_Centurion said:

Although I'm late to the party in this thread, I find it an excellent read. Thank you to all who contributed. If I may ask one question: If I'm hearing this right, the GR.1 is in fact an IDS? Are the differences shown anywhere online via photo comparison etc?

 

TIA

The mist visble difference apart from national insignia is the fairing beliw the nose of the GRs.

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On 6/2/2017 at 3:59 PM, exdraken said:

The mist visble difference apart from national insignia is the fairing beliw the nose of the GRs.

 

Understood, are the cockpit views the same? layout etc?

 

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From my fading memories from the 1990's (lol), a RSAF Tornado IDS and a RAF Tornado GR1 were in all modelling respects identical. The only differences that come to mind (from my particular job) were minor avionic equipment changes; even in 1:32 scale they would be difficult to spot in the cockpit. Be careful not to use a German version as a basis for a Saudi model - the cockpit would be wrongI! If I remember anything else I'll add it later.....

Edited by Tornadofairy
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On 2017-5-16 at 6:07 PM, italian intruder said:

iepfs9.jpg

finest,sorry

Not even close to the 'finest' ever pic of a RSAF Tornado, loads of far better images out there on the WWW, some of those of the BAES TSP jobbies going through the Mach Loop for instance...

 

-Dazza

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It is a nice picture, but looks like it is (a) straight out of the production shed and/or (b) been airbrushed/Photoshop'ed - that tail is just toooooooo clean, lol.... A hot, sometimes humid, sandy environment does not treat things very well; I remember failing the local MOT because the windscreen wipers were glued to the screen!

(They sold tee-shirts downtown with the slogan, 'The hottest summer I ever had, was a winter in Saudi Arabia'...

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probalbly fresh painted/one of the last of production line in end 80's  or veyi first 90's (to see hindenburg tanks and recce sensor under belly ) , straight line from factory , but i think not photoshopped

Edited by Davide Calzolari
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