The aircraft which has been and still is the go to attack jet for well over 35 years is being retired simply on lack of funds grounds. I struggle to understand why we are doing so
One word: manpower. The RAF and Navy are both struggling with their numbers caps, and the stove-piping of single-service budgets under the Levene reforms (and the politics around Army numbers) means that the obvious solution of transferring some of the Army’s unfilled positions to the other services is not possible. The P8 and additional Typhoon squadrons promised in SDSR15 are therefore dependent upon manpower currently tied up in the Tornado Force, and so retirement of Tornado is an essential prerequisite for these important growth plans.
Mothballing Tornado wouldn’t work either as the engineers would still be needed for anti-det maintenance.