Tornado IDS (Interdiction Strike) (2024)

German, British and Italian air forces fly the Tornado air-to-ground and air defense fighter. PANAVIA in Munich, Germany, is contracted to all three governments to manufacture and deliver the aircraft. The Tornado Interdictor Strike and Air Defense Variant (ADV) use similar airframes and the same engines and aircraft systems, but different radar, avionics software and weapon suites.

On 06 October 2010 Germany refuted a media report that it planned to retire all Tornado bombers by 2013, which would essentially end the country's ability to field U.S. tactical nuclear weapons. Some 22 US B-61 gravity bombs are believed to be kept at the Fliegerhorst Buechel air base in western Germany. Under an arrangement with the US, German air force pilots are trained in the fielding of the tactical arms from their Panavia Tornado fighter aircraft. The Eurofighter Typhoon is not designed to carry the B-61 warheads.

The conversion of the Tornado weapon system to ASSTA 313 is the basis for maintaining the operational capability of the weapons system. The use of the Tornado weapon system under current [2016] planning was until the mid-twenties.

According to 2015 plans, the TORNADO will be kept in service until the mid-2020s. In order to provide enough time for the development and procurement of a successor system and to maintain the capability spectrum within the context of FCAS, studies were being carried out to determine whether the in-service period can be prolonged by stretching the remaining flight hours or whether a service life extension of the TORNADO until the mid-2030s is possible. The studies are assessing the technological risks and economic efficiency of these options with a view to reducing risks.

With its AGM-88B Block III A guided missile (HARM), the TORNADO is the mainstay of the SEAD capability. Among other things, this missile no longer meets the requirements with regard to target location mechanisms and intelligent terminal control to increase hit probability.

Germany seemed in no hurry to replace its Tornado fleet: While most other European countries had retired Tornado jets or were in the process of doing so, the German government had yet to decide which plane to replace it with. The Tornado's operational capability is only guaranteed until 2025. After that, the costs for extending the fleet for another five years could be as high as €13 billion. Once a deal has been reached, it could still take several years for the airplanes to be built and then finally reach the Air Force hangars.

Off-the-record, Parliamentarians from Merkel's CDU and her sister party CSU, accuse the Social Democrats (SPD) of dragging its feet in an effort to delay an unpopular decision that might anger its traditionally anti-nuclear party base. In early 2020, the two left-leaning leaders of the Social Democrats — Norbert Walter-Borjans and Saskia Esken — called for a withdrawal of all nuclear weapons in Europe and Russia, adding that the presence of American nukes in Germany was "problematic."

By 2020 a compromise seemed to have emerged to split the deal among Eurofighter and the American F/A-18 Growler fighter jets, built by Boeing, opting for roughly 40 of each.

The EUROFIGHTER weapon system will afford the Air Force a highly agile and extremely efficient combat aircraft for ensuring the integrity of German airspace, as well as for conducting operations in the context of international crisis management.

Superior-performance air-to-air missiles optimised for different ranges will be integrated into the EUROFIGHTER to provide this capability. For the airto- ground role, the multi-role EUROFIGHTER will be equipped step by step with laser- and GPS-guided precision weapons for various ranges, as well as with a modular stand-off weapon.

In September 2014 Germany suspended the remaining 32 Eurofighter deliveries, pending resolution of a manufacturing defect and negotiations concerning what to do about it. Typhoon combat plane deliveries to Germany were put on hold following the discovery of a construction flaw in fuselage assemblies made by BAE Systems Plc. Germany also sharply cut the estimated number of safe flying hours in each of their 108 delivered to date. Eurofighter temporarily halved the Typhoon’s permitted life-cycle to 1,500 hours as a precaution.

In the foreseeable future, the EUROFIGHTER will be a mainstay of Germany‘s manned combat aircraft fleet and will be an important German contribution to the FCAS. According to current plans, the delivery of these aircraft will be completed by 2018. The EUROFIGHTER is an important capability platform of the Bundeswehr for ensuring the sovereignty of national airspace (QRA(I)) and conducting defensive counter-air operations.

In order to fulfil the e quick reaction alert (intercept) element (QRA(I)) task, to ensure education and flight training activities, and to meet international operational commitments, Tranche 1 should be used until it is no longer cost effective in the context of operational requirements.

With the GBU-48, the EUROFIGHTER will have an initial capability for offensive counter-air operations. This is an initial step towards multi-role capability. With this in mind, Germany must augment the capabilities of Tranche 2 and Tranche 3A EUROFIGHTER aircraft. This increase in capability should primarily be coordinated with the EUROFIGHTER partner nations on the basis of a common configuration.

There are plans for improvements in air/ground capability (including the integration of additional weapons, such as a short-range missile by 2020 and a medium-range weapon from 2020 onwards), improvements of command and control assets and, in conjunction with the TORNADO, contributions to the suppression of enemy air defence (SEAD) and to anti-surface warfare (ASuW). The EUROFIGHTER will likely not be fitted with special weapons for these roles before 2025. The decision on this matter must be considered in the context of developments concerning the NextGenWS. The multirole capability of the EUROFIGHTER must therefore be enhanced. For this reason, it will be equipped with new sensors (AESA radar, LDP with reconnaissance component.

In order to sustain the capabilities of the EUROFIGHTER well beyond 2040 so that it can be a mainstay of the FCAS, Germany must assume that Tranche 2 and 3A aircraft will have a life of more than 25 years. In the next two years [2016-17], Germany must consider and analyse with partner nations the technological possibilities of a mid-life upgrade (MLU) and a life extension programme (LEP) in order to sustain capabilities (e.g. through obsolescence management and the adaptation of avionics to future technologies) and the related costs.

Germany must also consider the future use of the NextGenWS, which will be developed on a multinational basis, as a complementary platform to the EUROFIGHTER in the FCAS. With regard to the current EUROFIGHTER project phase, multinationalisation must be further increased in the short and medium term in order to increase the user group for further development and operation and thus to achieve effects of scale and to ensure technologies and industrial capacities. The FMoD will support the participation of new partners.

German Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer on 22 April 2020 told the Munich-based newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung that she supported the acquisition of Eurofighter and US F-18 multirole combat jets to replace Germany's aging fleet of Tornadoes. Her comments come as the Bundestag defense committee debates on how to move forward with the Tornado fleet. Defense ministry estimates suggest that repairing and modernizing the Tornadoes could cost billions of euros. The procurement of 93 Eurofighter jets and 45 F-18s would also cost billions of euros. Although the acquisition of Airbus-made Eurofighters fall into Germany's larger strategic positioning within the European defense industry, they do not possess nuclear-sharing capabilities.