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Panavia Tornado Combat Aircraft
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In addition to the order made by the Luftwaffe, the German Navy's Marineflieger also received 112 of the IDS variant in the anti-shipping and marine reconnaissance roles, again replacing the Starfighter. These equipped two wings, each with a nominal strength of 48 aircraft. The principal anti-ship weapon was the AS.34 Kormoran anti-ship missile, which were initially supplemented by unguided bombs and BL755 cluster bombs, and later by AGM-88 HARM anti-radar missiles. Pods fitted with panoramic optical cameras and an infra-red line scan were carried for the reconnaissance mission.
The end of the Cold War and the signing of the CFE Treaty gave rise to a requirement for Germany to reduce the size of its armed forces, including the number of combat aircraft. To meet this need, one of the Marineflieger's Tornado wings was disbanded on 1 January 1994; its aircraft replaced the Phantoms of a Luftwaffe reconnaissance wing. The second wing was enlarged and continued in the anti-shipping, reconnaissance and anti-radar roles until it was disbanded in 2005 with its aircraft and duties passed on to the Luftwaffe.
• Italian Air Force (Aeronautica Militare)
The first Italian prototype made its maiden flight on 5 December 1975 from Turin, Italy. The Aeronautica Militare received a total of 100 Tornado IDS. 16 IDSs were later converted to the ECR configuration; Italy's first ECR was delivered on 27 February 1998. As a stop-gap measure for 10 years, the Aeronautica Militare additionally operated 24 Tornado ADVs in the air defence role, which were leased from the Royal Air Force to cover the service gap between the retirement of the Lockheed F-104 Starfighter and the introduction of the Eurofighter Typhoon.
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