Saudi Arabia was the only country outside Europe to buy the Tornado. In 2015, Jon Lake reviewed the service careers of the IDS and ADV variants in the desert kingdom.
More than a dozen nations expressed interest in acquiring the Tornado but eventually only one export order was achieved. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia took delivery of 120 aircraft as part of the Al-Yamamah (Dove of Peace) agreement which earned the UK more than £40bn. At the time, this single order was the biggest arms deal struck between two nations.
The Saudi order for Tornados was announced after the failure of export campaigns in Canada, Australia, Iraq (defeated by sanctions following the Iran-Iraq war) and Oman, which actually placed an order for eight Tornado F2s in August 1985, though this was subsequently cancelled.
The UK and Saudi Arabian governments signed a memorandum of understanding on September 25, 1985 with the initial phase including 48 Tornado IDSs and 24 Tornado ADVs. The second part involved the delivery of a further 48 Tornado IDSs, bringing the total to 120 aircraft. Prince Sultan bin Abdul Aziz, the Saudi Minister of Defence and Aviation, and Sir Colin Chandler, the head of the UK Government’s Defence Export Sales Organisation (DESO), …
