Originally Posted by
Buster15
Yes indeed.
And the GAF has continued to invest and update their versions of Tornado to maintain its effectiveness. Similarly the Italian and Saudi AF.
By contrast, the UK retired their GR4 jets far earlier due to cost pressures.
The Panavia Tornado and its organisation paved the way for EF Typhoon and now for the GCAP Tempest programme.
The RAFs jets were pretty worn out, with the Force having been on ops almost continuously between Aug 90 and Jan 19. The other nations’ jets have not been subject to the same tasking pressures, hence why they have lasted longer.
plus, the German jets don’t fly so much because they spend half their lives in the paint shop for wacky schemes (I’m only half joking here)
Edit, to add: And the GR4 of 2019 was a very different beast from the GR4 of 1997, or even 2010.