Tornadoes: things under noses

[metroman]

Hello - I am wanting to build my new Revell Tornado 48th as one from Operation Granby but am finding that when perusing pics I find some airframes with the LRMTS sensor under the nose and some without - could I get a laymans explanation on what the official designation was for the jets in either instance, with and without the sensor? WAS that undernose sensor -alone- able to designate for laser guided bombs or was that linked strictly to those able to employ through a TIALD pod? I have both the Italeri and Airfix kits if I need to locate 'donor' parts. ALSO: what would the outer pylons be occupied with: Sky Shadow and BOZ?

Finally, someone be able to link a build article showing in detail the degree the desert pink paint wore off and how to replicate it?

Thank you

Brian W

[scotthldr]

"The Tornado was designed for ultra-low-level penetration strikes on Warsaw Pact targets in Europe using both conventional and tactical nuclear weapons, e.g. WE.177. However, the end of the Cold War precluded it from ever seeing that use. A major feature of the GR.1 was its terrain-following radar, which allowed all-weather hands-off low-level flight, but current doctrine eschews extreme low-level flight and relies on inertial navigation with GPS updates rather than TFS. The RAF Tornado IDS aircraft have a Laser Range Finder and Marked Target Seeker (LRMTS) under the fuselage on the starboard side, just forward of the nose landing gear in an aerodynamic fairing. This system consists of a laser that can be used to measure the slant range of a point on the ground relative to the aircraft. This information is then used by the aircraft's avionics to compute targeting information for the crew. The LRMTS laser sensor can also be used to receive reflected laser energy from a third-party laser, allowing the crew to find targets that have been marked by troops on the ground or another aircraft. The laser cannot be used for guiding laser-guided bombs. IDS aircraft supplied to Italy, West Germany and the Tri-National Tornado Training Establishment do not have the LRMTS system, but the aircraft supplied to the Royal Saudi Air Force do."

All Tornados at the time of Op Granby were GR1's or GR1A's weather with or without the LRMTS.

This will be useful if you haven't already seen it

http://www.dstorm.eu/pages/en/gb/tornado.html

Edited July 14, 2014 by scotthldr

[Julien (UK)]

Brian,

dont know if these help but I took these pics at the first RAF Leuchars airshow after Op Granby. Still has the desert camo ECM pod but the boz pod has been replaced by an green one. Under wing tanks are not camo either. Early on they flew with Samll tanks but later got the big tanks from the ADV.

Note the Scottish "liquid" sunshine! :)

Julien

Edited July 15, 2014 by Julien (UK)

[metroman]

Thank you!

I've found out in the past day that the jets that I thought were missing the LRMTS pod were in fact pictures taken from the left side with the pod being masked behind the nose gear door - took me a bit to figure that out. So all Granby Tonkas had the nose pod. Thank you

[Bobski]

WAS that undernose sensor -alone- able to designate for laser guided bombs or was that linked strictly to those able to employ through a TIALD pod? I have both the Italeri and Airfix kits if I need to locate 'donor' parts. ALSO: what would the outer pylons be occupied with: Sky Shadow and BOZ?

The laser under the nose was for target marking and not laser-designation. Tornados in the Gulf that were dropping UK 1000lb Paveway IIs would have needed a Buccaneer to designate for them using Pave Spike, unless they were fortunate enough to have one of the very few available TIALD pods to allow them to self-designate.

Outboard pylons would have been Sky Shadow and BOZ, yes.