Tornado GR.1 received them because we know it was a Tornado GR.1 that they were fitted too. There is evidence of this.
We also know what’s required to use the PGM.
The same is not true for Tornado IDS and AMRAAM / Skyflash. No evidence is present in this image that this Tornado was modified to fire and guide AMRAAM and Skyflash.
It also has not been proven again that this is SLE or even ASSTA 3.1. It appears to be more a pylon test by WTD-61 on a non standard test Tornado.
So why can’t the other Tornados get PGM? You’ll give it to the GR4, which didn’t use them, but not the ASSTA1 or 1995? I guess they just don’t have what’s required?
The GR1 IS an IDS, it’s just the British designation for it. Just like they call the Eurofighter the Typhoon.
There’s nothing different about the British and German IDS that would make it unable to use the PGM, never mind the fact that the British IDS never even used the PGM, it was just fit test.
So what is actually going to be done about the lack of German CAS? Before you say ‘Unfortunately Germany doesn’t have any suitable aircraft’ as it happens, we do have a suitable aircraft. The Tornado.
I wasnt talking about ARH deployment but purely SARH. Stronger lock means stronger signal and stronger signal means stronger return waves. That translates to smaller notch window aswell as more accurate and visible “painting” of the target which is essential for SARH missiles.
So no, despite AIM-7 limitations F-2A would’ve been way stronger than any of its competition of the time and SARH missiles fired from it would’ve been way harder to defeat. Thats in a sense of pre-ARH addition