Panavia Tornado Combat Aircraft

On 23 March 2003, a Tornado GR4 was shot down over Iraq by friendly fire from a U.S. Patriot missile battery, killing both crew members. In July 2003, a US board of inquiry exonerated the battery's operators, observing the Tornado's "lack of functioning IFF (Identification Friend or Foe)" as a factor in the incident. Problems with Patriot has also been suggested as a factor, multiple incidents of mis-identification of friendly aircraft have occurred, including the fatal shootdown of a US Navy McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet a few weeks after the loss of the Tornado. Britain withdrew the last of its Tornados from Iraq in June 2009.
In early 2009, several GR4s arrived at Kandahar airfield, Afghanistan, to replace the Harrier GR7/9 aircraft deployed there since November 2004. In 2009, Paveway IV guided bombs were brought into service on the RAF's Tornados, having been previously used in Afghanistan upon the Harrier II fleet. In Summer 2010, extra Tornados were dispatched to Kandahar for the duration of the 2010 Afghan election.
Prior to the 2010 Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR)'s publication, the retirement of the entire Tornado fleet was under consideration, savings of £7.5 billion were anticipated. The SDSR announced the Tornado would be retained at the expense of the Harrier II, although Tornado numbers are to decline in transition to the Eurofighter Typhoon, and later on, the F-35 Lightning II.
On 18 March 2011, British Prime Minister David Cameron announced the deployment of Tornados and Typhoons to enforce a no-fly zone in Libya. In March 2011, several Tornados flew 3,000-mile (4,800 km) strike missions against targets inside Libya in what were, according to Defence Secretary Liam Fox, "the longest range bombing mission conducted by the RAF since the Falklands conflict". A variety of weapons were used in operations over Libya, including Laser-guided bombs and Brimstone missiles.