How many Tornados were to be built and for whom?

Short answer

Counting all variants, 990 Tornados were built. The German air force received 247, including 35 of the ECR variant; the Aeronautica Militare received 100 Tornado IDS, Italy's A-200s, and fifteen aircraft were development machines.

Published: November 4, 2026 · Updated: November 4, 2026 · Edited by Above Ten Thousand · Editorial policy

How many Tornados were to be built and for whom?

German Luftwaffe Panavia Tornado at Luke Air Force Base, Arizona (USA), 17 June 2010 (100617 F-6868Y 125)

A multinational consortium

On 26 March 1969, four partner countries — the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands — agreed to set up a multinational company, Panavia Aircraft GmbH. The Tornado was developed and built by that Panavia Aircraft GmbH, a three-nation consortium made up of British Aerospace, formerly the British Aircraft Corporation, the German MBB and the Italian Aeritalia.

Production, variant by variant

Counting all variants, 990 aircraft were built. Fifteen of them were development aircraft: nine prototypes, designated P.01 to P.09, and six pre-series machines, PS.11 to PS.16.

The recipients

The total number of Tornados delivered to the German air force was 247, of which 35 were the ECR variant. The German naval aviation, the Marineflieger, received 112 examples of the IDS variant for anti-ship and maritime reconnaissance duties. The Aeronautica Militare received 100 Tornado IDS, known in Italian service as the A-200. To these were added 24 Tornado ADVs in the air-defence role, leased to the RAF.