Tornado GR.4: Tenacious Tonka

The “big fin” gets an upgrade with the Tornado GR.4! Today, we’ll be taking a look at this new top rank British strike aircraft that will let you rain Hellfire (or in this case Brimstone) down on your opponents!

Tornado GR.4: A Strike Aircraft for Great Britain at Rank VIII At a glance:

• A modernized Tornado GR.1 with more advanced ordnance.
  
• Improved LITENING targeting pod with Gen 2 thermals.
  
• Equipped with Dual-Mode Brimstone (SAL) Semi-Active Laser guided precision weapons and Paveway IV!

Vehicle History
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Tornado GR.4 was born from experience gathered in the 1990s from the Gulf War. Lessons learned from Operation Granby coupled with the need for more advanced and sophisticated weapons lead at the time to an extensive upgrade program beginning in 1996 by Panavia for the RAF. An all-weather and Night flight capability was added to the aircraft, allowing it to operate in all conditions and at any time, with Night Vision Goggles (NVG) for the crews. Forward Looking Infra-Red (FLIR) was added under the aircraft, replacing one of the 27mm Mauser cannons. A host of new weaponry was introduced and integrated, including more advanced countermeasure pods and sophisticated air-to-ground smart munitions like Paveway IV with GPS guidance, Storm Shadow cruise missiles and Brimstone missiles all became part of the Tornados expanded arsenal.

GR.4s were used extensively in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and Libya, accounting for most RAF strike operations and taking over many duties from the Harrier after its retirement in 2010. The famous WW2 “Dambuster” 617 Squadron, made famous by its raids with the Lancaster, was among the units to utilize this aircraft in combat. Tornado GR.4s were still flying operational combat missions just a few months before their retirement, taking part in Operation Shader and conducting precision strikes, reconnaissance and other mission roles. The Tornado was retired entirely from Royal Air Force service in March of 2019, with its role being taken over jointly by both F-35B and Typhoon FGR.4s upgraded to carry existing Tornado GR.4 air-to-ground weaponry. 
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Meet the Tornado GR.4!
The Tornados are staple strike aircraft for many higher rank ground battle lineups, but you’ll most definitely want to be adding this one to your British roster! The Tornado GR.4 is a modernized Tornado GR.1, trading one 27 mm cannon away to gain a host of gameplay improvements and some deadly new weapons for its arsenal. Let’s take a closer look at what you can expect!  



Equipped with FLIR (Forward Looking Infra-Red) under its nose and more powerful RB199 Mk 103 engines compared to the 101 of the GR.1, the GR.4 improves just about every aspect of its predecessor. The impressive array of traditional Tornado bombs and guided bomb payload remains, but with some welcomed improvements. Mainly in the form of the LITENING targeting pod, featuring better resolution and thermal generation and also with Paveway IV and EGBU-24B Paveway III smart bombs. These munitions feature combined GPS and laser guidance and allow you to drop precision ordnance on a fixed point without putting your aircraft too much in harm’s way. 

Did you know?  RAF Tornado GR.4s alone amassed over 30,000 flying hours using the LITENING III targeting pod. RAF GR.4s can be used for photo reconnaissance as well as strike roles utilizing LITENING III. 



Besides this, the Tornado GR.4 will also introduce a brand new type of air-to-ground missile to the game in the form of Dual-Mode Brimstone (SAL)! This precision missile in its Semi-Active Laser mode will behave like a much more advanced Hellfire in game, but with more range. The Tornado GR.4 also carries an impressive number of nine alongside its targeting pod all on its centerline stations.

Developer comment: We’d like to mention that Brimstone will only have semi-active laser homing (SAL) mode in the game. The fire and forget mode and the active radar homing seeker will not be available for a few reasons. The primary reason is that this seeker utilizes the “lock-on after launch (LOAL)” mode, this mode allows the weapon to be fired in the general area of a target without needing any direct line of sight to the target from the operator, who can remain at long range in complete safety without any need to expose themselves during every stage of attack.

We feel weapons that can be used outside of the direct line of sight of the target without needing any preliminary reconnaissance or direct user targeting are not currently workable for the game. Weapons such as Brimstone, AGM-114L cause a particular problem and similarly to other ATGMs that have lock after launch modes like the Spike and AJ.168 will not have such abilities in the game.

These weapon types present several issues all at once, they require no challenge to use effectively and have no counterplay options for those being attacked. The attacker can operate outside of the range of any anti-air system in the game, Brimstone is also immune to smoke, so this won’t help either.

ARH modes for air-to-ground weapons won’t be workable until natural and artificial interference to these guidance systems can be implemented, as there are no electronic reconnaissance and electronic warfare systems in the game. Adding these weapons now would allow them to operate perfectly without any counter, which we don’t want to do. Additionally, in closer combat zone sizes like our tank battles, ATGMs with ARH cannot distinguish between allied and enemy targets, and this would lead to a large amount of accidental teamkills as well.

For self defense, the Tornado GR.4 features two AIM-9M Sidewinder missiles and a pilot Helmet Mounted Display. Should you find yourself in the firing line, you can also rely on the upgraded Terma pod, which features MAWs and countermeasures. All of these new toys do however come at the cost of the loss of one 27 mm cannon on the GR.4, but we think you will agree that’s a worthwhile tradeoff!



The Tornado GR.4 will be taking to the skies in the next major update for War Thunder! We hope you will enjoy this upgraded British strike aircraft. That’s all for now, but be sure to stay tuned to the news for more information on what to expect in the upcoming Major Update!

Please note that this vehicle’s characteristics may be changed before it is added to the game.