Panavia Tornado 98#03 German Luftwaffe multi-purpose weapon system testing
Panavia Tornado 98#03 German Luftwaffe multi-purpose weapon system testing

In June 1968, England, Italy and Germany signed a Memorandum of understanding, which defined the principles of financing the aircraft. Three countries were able to continue the bots over the aircraft, which received the new name MRCA-75 (Multi Role Combat Aircraft — multi-purpose combat aircraft 1975 years). To implement the program in March 1969, the international consortium Panavia was formed, uniting the companies BAC (UK), Messerschmitt-Belkov-Blohm (Germany) and Aeritalia (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 fleets of aircraft in the adopting air forces. The Royal Saudi Air Force (RSAF) became the only export operator of the Tornado in addition to the three original partner nations. A tri-nation training and evaluation unit operating from RAF Cottesmore, the Tri-National Tornado Training Establishment, maintained a level of international co-operation beyond the production stage.

Bradic Srecko

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