Panavia Tornado Combat Aircraft

The first Italian prototype made its maiden flight on 5 December 1975 from Turin, Italy. The Aeronautica Militare received a total of 100 Tornado IDS. 16 IDSs were later converted to the ECR configuration; Italy's first ECR was delivered on 27 February 1998. As a stop-gap measure for 10 years, the Aeronautica Militare additionally operated 24 Tornado ADVs in the air defence role, which were leased from the Royal Air Force to cover the service gap between the retirement of the Lockheed F-104 Starfighter and the introduction of the Eurofighter Typhoon.
Italian Tornados, along with Tornados from Britain, took part in the first Gulf War in 1991. Operation Locusta saw eight Tornado IDS interdictors deployed from Gioia del Colle, Italy, to Al Dhafra, Abu Dhabi, as a part of Italy's contribution to the coalition. During the conflict, one aircraft was lost to Iraqi anti-aircraft fire, the pilots ejected safely and were captured by Iraqi forces.
A total of 22 Italian Tornados were deployed in the NATO-organised Operation Allied Force over Kosovo in 1999, the IDS variant was used in the bombing role while the ECR variants patrolled the combat region, acting to suppress enemy anti-aircraft radars, firing 115 AGM-88 HARM missiles. In response to anticipated violence during the 2010 Afghanistan elections, Italy, along with several other nations, increased its military commitment in Afghanistan, dispatching four IDS Tornados to the region.
Italian Tornado IDS and ECR aircraft participated in the enforcement of a UN no-fly zone during the 2011 military intervention in Libya. Various coalition aircraft operated from bases in Italy, including RAF Tornados. Italian military aircraft delivered a combined 710 guided bombs and missiles during the strikes against Libyan targets. Of these Italian Air Force Tornados and AMX fighter-bombers released 550 guided bombs and missiles, and Italian Navy AV-8Bs delivered 160 guided bombs. Italian Tornados launched 20 to 30 Storm Shadow cruise missiles with the rest consisting of Paveway and JDAM guided bombs.