Tornado GR4 availability question....
hurrrrmphing taxpayer question.
the UK bought some 228 Tornado GR1's in the early 1980's, but only 148 were upgraded to GR4 standard starting in about 1997.
can anyone explain how the Tornado GR fleet has gone from above 200 airframes to a situation where whenever anyone asks why GR4's can't shoulder some of the Harriers CAS load in A'stan, they are met with seemingly shifty answers of 'they're busy over Iraq' - problem being, there's only a handful over Iraq...
what happened to the rest?
cheers.