The Panavia Tornado is a twin-engine, variable-sweep wing multi-role combat aircraft, jointly developed and manufactured by Italy, the United Kingdom and Germany.

General information
Type
Multirole aircraft, strike aircraft
Manufactured
1979–1998
Introduction date
1979
First flight
14 August 1974
Retired
2019 (RAF)

The Tornado was developed and built by Panavia Aircraft GmbH, a tri-national consortium consisting of British Aerospace (previously British Aircraft Corporation), MBB of West Germany, and Aeritalia of Italy. It first flew on 14 August 1974 and was introduced into service in 1979–1980. Due to its multirole design, it was able to replace several different types of aircraft in the adopting air forces.