Asturias56
You need to put it in perspective for the late 1970s when this was being decided:
F14A - very expensive, “A model” engine performance and reliability not very good. RADAR not deemed suitable for overland operations as it was mainly designed for blue-water fleet defence. We also had RAF Aircrew on exchange with the F14 that could give an honest appraisal.
F15A - cracking airframe, but the “A model” RADAR and avionics were poor. Again, we had Aircrew on exchange that could be honest views on the jet. It was only as the “C and E Model” that F15 became the formidable aircraft that we know.
F16A - was AIM 9 Sidewinder only in those days and single engine was unacceptable for the Iceland Faroes gap.
The requirement which Tornado ADV was designed to meet was low level all-weather day/night interception of long range Soviet aircraft in a high ECM/ECCM environment - BEAR, BLACKJACK, BACKFIRE and FENCER. At that time the more agile FULCRUM and FLANKER were not really considered. The Tornado F3 ticked all the boxes and more for the requirement of the time. Sadly, as an airframe it was left behind with the switch to more agile aircraft types in the ‘80s and had to rely on tech advances like TRD, JTIDS, AMRAAM and ASRAAM plus a constant program of RADAR improvements. That enabled it to hold its own on operations, but in close in dog-fights it would be in trouble with most fighter adversaries. But even today it had some unique capabilities over the Typhoon and F35B - low level speed is far higher and it can stay low and fast for far longer, it can fly at Mach 2.2 (unlike M1.8 and M1.6 for the new birds) and it had a 2 person crew which if working well together could do amazing things in high workload and ECM/Night environments that a single brain will struggle with. The latter is often forgotten and why several militaries still operate 2-seat fast jet combat aircraft - France has seen the value of that with Rafale B/DM/DH, the USAF with the latest F15EX and the Airbus FCAS seems to be 2-seat too. Of course the current Harrier, Jaguar and Typhoon mafia at the top end of the RAF would never go back to 2-seat fast jet combat aircraft ops as their egos couldn’t stand it!