German Air Force; Italian Air Force; Royal Saudi Air Force; Royal Air Force (historical)
Two-seat all-weather interceptor fighter aircraft
IDS - Interdiction and Strike
ADV - Air Defence Variant
ECR - Electronic Combat Reconnaissance
Tornado F3 - Improved F2 version,with automatic wing sweep control, increased AIM-9 carriage and avionics upgrades. 171 built for the Royal Air force (RAF) & Royal Saudi Air Force (RSAF).
ASSTA - in 2000, German IDS and ECR Tornados received the ASSTA 1 (Avionics System Software Tornado in Ada) upgrade (replacement weapons computer, new GPS and Laser Inertial navigation systems. allowed the integration of the HARM III, HARM 0 Block IV/V and Taurus KEPD 350 missiles, the Rafael Litening II laser designator pod and GBU-24 Paveway III laser-guided bombs). In 2005, The ASSTA 2 upgrade consisted several new digital avionics systems and a new ECM suite; only applied to 85 Tornados (20 ECRs and 65 IDSs). In 2008, the ASSTA 3 upgrade introduced support for the laser-targeted Joint Direct Attack Munition along with further software changes. In January 2016, the ASSTA 3.1 included colour multifunctional LCD screens in place of monochrome CRT displays, is interfering with helmet-mounted night-vision optical displays worn by pilots, rendering German Tornado bombers deployed to Syria useless for night missions.