It’s fitting that the Tornado GR4 will likely remain on operations until its retirement. Operation Shader over Iraq and Syria has bookended its impressive combat record, and it will continue as the RAF looks towards the type’s impending withdrawal from service, as explains.
Tornado Tribute
On April 14, 2018, four Tornado GR4s slipped into Syrian airspace under the cloak of darkness to deliver a lethal blow to Syrian regime chemical weapons storage facilities at Him Sinshar, west of Homs, in response to the alleged use of such deadly toxins against civilians in Douma the week before.
Each dispatching a pair of bunkerbusting Storm Shadows, the RAF Tornados were taking part in a co-ordinated mission that once again proved the value of these combat veterans.
It was the latest phase of a complex and constantly evolving mission in the Middle East. When the US began air strikes against so-called Islamic State (IS) in Iraq on August 8, 2014, it was to signal the start of this enduring commitment for the Tornado GR Force (TGRF), which is likely to be its last.
