Tonka next?

That is a great mini doc.

Just imagine a Tornado in DCS guys how amazing it would be.

I would love a GR4 we are more likely it get a GR1 but will probably get neither which is a real shame : (

What they did in desert storm was have one carry the TIALD Pod and laze for the other tornados carrying paveways the ability to do both at the same time wasnt added till after the war.

The Buccs lazed for the Tonkas

Wikipedia says that they also had Tornados lazing as well if it is to be believed.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/TIALD

Not in GW1, as Joey mentioned the Buccaneer was brought out to laze for the GR1s. GR4s did both on their own.

;3896502']Not in GW1' date=' as Joey mentioned the Buccaneer was brought out to laze for the GR1s. GR4s did both on their own.[/quote']

Not true. RAF GR1s flew 72 TIALD sorties during GW1.

 

Wikipedia said some Tornados lazed and the photo above says it all.

"Ferranti Defence Systems started development of the TIALD pod in the late 1980s. The 1990 Iraqi invasion of Kuwait and the resulting Gulf War saw the TIALD pod rushed into service. In the Gulf War several modified Panavia Tornados and some Blackburn Buccaneers laser designated for unmodified Tornados which carried LGBs. The Buccaneers carried the U.S. Pave Spike designator, which was limited to daylight use."

I stand corrected, everyday is a school day!

There isnt an awful lot of information out there, I only started looking in to it when somebody mentioned that GR1's had the ability to carry TIALD's

From the information I found it mentioned that they did not have the ability to self laze during the gulf war and that this was an upgrade that came later but before the GR4 revision.

Cant find the source but will keep searching.

Operations - the Tornado/TIALD and Buccaneer/Pave Spike

The Gulf War was ill timed from the RAF's perspective, as its new TIALD targeting pods for the Tornado GR.1 were still in development. The RAF deployed a mixed force of 42 GR.1s and 6 GR.1As, from squadrons based at Laarbruch, Bruggen, Marham and Honnington (2, 4, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 27, 31 and 617 Sqns), supported later by 12 Buccaneer S.2Bs of 12 and 208 Sqns.

The Tornados commenced the campaign with counterair and interdiction strikes at night/low level, but by the beginning of February shifted to daylight interdiction of bridges with designator support from the geriatric Buccaneer. The Buccaneers are fitted with the now obsolete AVQ-23E Pave Spike, an early seventies follow-on to the Pave Knife. The Pave Spike is a daylight system with TV and designator boresighted in a turret, housed in a pod.

Typical raids involved sections of four 'bomber' Tornados supported by a pair of 'designator' Buccaneers, dropping 1,000 lb LGBs from level formation flight at medium altitudes, above AAA. These raids saw the destruction of no less than 24 bridges for 169 LGBs and fifteen airfields/HAS installations. As the campaign progressed, the Buccaneers would loiter after the Tornados had dropped and departed, designating targets for attack with their own LGBs, a total of 48 were so delivered.

Subsequently, a pair of GEC-Ferranti TIALD (thermal imaging airborne laser designator) pods were deployed and used in combat. These were trials units, one of which was removed from a testbed aircraft and fitted to hurriedly wired/modified Tornados, of which 5 were adapted. The crash program saw the pods and aircraft declared operational on the 6th February, after a major effort in preceding weeks by GEC-Ferranti with software support by EASAMS. Named 'Sandra' and 'Tracy', the two pods were rapidly pressed into action. The first raid saw a section of 4 'bomber' Tornados led by a pair of TIALD equipped aircraft attack the H3 airfield with 1,000 lb Paveways. While one of the pods malfunctioned due stabilisation problems, the other successfully designated for all aircraft in the strike.

Thereafter the two pods worked overtime on airfield, bridge and bunker interdiction missions, with a total of 72 sorties flown and 23 aborted. The most notable raid was probably a hit on a large ammunition store at Ubaydah al bin Jarrah, which resulted in a fireball and smoke cloud rising to 15,000 ft. While clearance to carry the US GBU-10/Mk.84 was received late in the campaign, hostilities ceased before the weapon could be used.

https://www.ausairpower.net/TE-PGM-ODS-92.html

Not true. RAF GR1s flew 72 TIALD sorties during GW1.

 

That nose art though.

Quick google. Donna Ewin was a 80's glamour model.

haha, I couldn't do any better but that artist did NOT do her justice.

yeah the artist did a terrible job haha

I’d rather see a compliment of other naval aircraft to the 14 and 18 before going off on a tangent.

Tornado was used by the German Navy :thumbup:

The german navy livieries are awesome, however being british I hope if we ever got a Tornado it would be a british variant. just me being Biased haaha

The german navy livieries are awesome, however being british I hope if we ever got a Tornado it would be a british variant. just me being Biased haaha

If we ever get a Tornado for DCS it will probably be the old Cold War version, which is very similar across all 4 original users (Royal Air Force, German Air Force, German Navy, Italian Air Force) with only one or two very minor differences. The differences came later when the users upgraded their Tornados independently and became very big.

Agree with you, it sounds a reasonable plan with realistic perspectives.

Let's only hope it will be released one day! And possibly soon, of course.

With best regards.

Just tucking this in here real quick.

German Tornados low level flying in South Africa:

The GR.4 is the pinnacle? The GR.4 was put into service in the 90s. I don't know how much it got improved since then. :dunno:

 

The german ASSTA 3.1 on the other hand has been put into service in 2016 and has all new avionics:

- Please not the 3.1. They gave away so much of the Tornados abilities for sake of having fancy things...

It looks shinier than it is. And most of the advantages of ASSTA upgrades would not even be modeled properly in DCS,

I just mention RWR/RWE and DAC (Defensive Aids Computer).

The GR.4 really is a good bird. The germans just waited to long. I wont mention how good our birds are in comparison to the GR.4.

- ASSTA 2 never rolled out, at least in Germany. Itilians had/have a variation of ASSTA 2 in their birds, if I'm correct.

- My opinion: A late GR.1 would give us the most "bang for the bug" ->

ALARM, possibly even with the second set of stub-pylons, option on the GR.1B wiring offers Sea Eagle, TIALD, GBUs, JP233, fin fuel and other unguided stuff.

From the book "Tornado GR1 - An operational history" I remember pictures where they carried TIALD and GBU's.

The had Jag's and Bucc's LASEing for them in the beginning, but they did it them selves later on.

They would however have a dedicated TIALD element, for operational reasons.

Was easier for them to orbit and let other birds go in and drop the thing.

I'll look that up again.

Fyi the latest fighter pilot podcast is with an ex tornado pilot.

I wonder if Heatblur will at least confirm they are looking at the Tornado as a possible DCS aircraft...:)

I wonder if Heatblur will at least confirm they are looking at the Tornado as a possible DCS aircraft...:)

Please. I don't ask for much!

It would finally all shut us lot up for 5 minutes.

It would finally all shut us lot up for 5 minutes.

Agree. If not less, of course. :lol:

With best regards.

Come on Heatblur you know you want to tell us at the very least your looking into it :)