TECHNICAL

years Tornado ECR camouflage consists of

blue gray FS35237. It is the same shade as

applied on the Eurofighter Typhoon. Common to all camouflage patterns is the radome painted black and vertical tail surface tip

painted in gray FS36118. That can also appear

in the camouflage color when NORM83 is

followed.

As far as stencils are concerned, for Tornado ECR NORM83 prescribed black color

with multi-color warning signs. According to

NORM95, and for the aircraft in all-gray finish

the gray stencils, multi-color ones or mix of

the two can be applied, check your photographic references for a particular aircraft.

One interesting anomaly concerning the Tornadoes ECR camouflage is their appearance from the second half of 1995 when they

started to be deployed within the Operation

Deliberate Force out of the Italian air base

Piacenza San Damiano. Based on the photographic evidence we can almost certainly

state that the JaBoG 32 aircraft in the first

tour of duty were painted very light gray overall. RAL 6003 olive green was applied to the

tip of the vertical tail surface and canopy frame. The radome and all antenna covers were

in standard black. There is a minimal number of stencils on these airplanes (only red

warning triangles on the canopy and the fuselage and stencils for the emergency canopy release on the ground). It’s apparent that

the paint was applied shortly before the operation started since the aircraft don’t show

any signs of weathering and very little staining from fluid leaks. In the following years

the aircraft were repainted back to NORM95

standard. For example, the JaBoG 32 aircraft

deployed in 1996 clearly carried three shades

of gray. What follows is the endless gallery of

the attractive, colorful NATO Tiger Meet and

various anniversary schemes.

Special equipment and

ordnance

German Panavia Tornado ECR, reg. 98+79 (686/GS217/4275) during takeoff from Ingolstadt-Manching (ETSI, 13 June 2015).

(photo: Petr Soukop)

NORM95

Current form of camouflage

1995- EG 1 - Operation Deliberate Force

As mentioned earlier Tornadoes ECR do not

carry any cannons, their space is occupied

by the antennas and blocks of the radio-electronic equipment. The basic system for

SEAD (Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses)

missions is ELS (Emitter Location System)

whose task is to determine the type and location of the radar that detected the aircraft.

The system supplies data to arm AGM-88

HARM missiles and for their launch on the

target. The system blocks are located under

the pilots’ cockpit and the antennas are installed on both sides of the fuselage in front

of the engine intakes and in the leading

edges of the fixed wings and covered with

black panels.

System’s shortcoming is that it can only

detect the signals coming from the front

hemisphere therefore two aircraft are

launched for a mission flying the reciproDetail of an AGM-88 HARM missile suspended on a subcruise mount.

(photo: Michal Fárek)

INFO Eduard - FEBRUARY 2022

eduard

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