Following on from the Saxonverse ships thread here, this is dedicated to the air and land-based flights of fancy. Starting off with the 1990s stalwart of the RAF, the Panavia Tornado:
The British government initiated the GR.4 programme in the early 1990s. The project included making all aircraft maritime-capable, incorporating the new Storm Shadow/Apache cruise missiles, completely overhauling the avionics and cockpit, adding new sensors and upgrading the engines to the more powerful RB199 Mk.105. To make room for more avionics the port 27mm cannon was deleted.
![[ img ]](https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/8268c5d2-d35e-4a52-bf71-3ca6e025e825/da5cezk-7de4ce12-2c0b-4da4-a8cb-b4ce3b770237.png/v1/fill/w_1000,h_500,q_80,strp/panavia_tornado_gr_4___saxonverse_by_dave_llamaman_da5cezk-fullview.png?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyNjQzNzNhNWYwZDQxNWVhMGQyNmUwIiwiaXNzIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkMTg4OTgyMjY0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZlMCIsIm9iaiI6W1t7ImhlaWdodCI6Ijw9NTAwIiwicGF0aCI6IlwvZlwvODI2OGM1ZDItZDM1ZS00YTUyLWJmNzEtM2NhNmUwMjVlODI1XC9kYTVjZXprLTdkZTRjZTEyLTJjMGItNGRhNC1hOGNiLWI0Y2UzYjc3MDIzNy5wbmciLCJ3aWR0aCI6Ijw9MTAwMCJ9XV0sImF1ZCI6WyJ1cm46c2VydmljZTppbWFnZS5vcGVyYXRpb25zIl19.lFZOxbVqVplbeQyk3QZmMFVbrkLaEg9JSF7y9PEeY8E)
Aircraft returning to the UK from Germany in 2001 were redeployed to RAF Coltishall as well as Marham, with two maritime strike squadrons based at Lossiemouth. The WE.177C tactical nuclear bomb was retained in the GR.4's arsenal until the arrival of the Storm Shadow, when the warheads would be refurbished, fuzing modernised and transferred to a variant of the MBDA weapon. The type continued in service until it was replaced by the Typhoon GR.3 in 2019.
Squadrons as of 2010:
No. 2 Sqn: GR4A (recce/conventional land attack), RAF Marham
No. 12 Sqn: GR.4 (maritime/conventional land attack), RAF Lossiemouth
No. 13 Sqn: GR.4A (recce/conventional land attack), RAF Marham
No. 14 Sqn: GR.4 (tactical nuclear strike/conventional land attack), RAF Coltishall
No. 15 Sqn: GR.4 (tactical nuclear strike/conventional land attack), RAF Marham
No. 17 Sqn: GR.4 (tactical nuclear strike/conventional land attack), RAF Marham
No. 31 Sqn: GR.4 (tactical nuclear strike/conventional land attack), RAF Coltishall
No. 45(R) Sqn: GR.4 (OCU/conventional land attack), RAF Coltishall
No. 208 Sqn: GR.4 (maritime/conventional land attack), RAF Lossiemouth