[Fictional] Panavia Tornado GR.1H for STRIKE FIGHTERS 2 1.0.0

Thank you for this,

I am going write the real story behind Tornados in HAF service, which is very different.

The Tornado IDS was in the shortlist that the HAF gave to the ministry of defense in 1982. The other three were the Mirage 2000, F-16C and F/A-18A. Panavia offered  EAB (Hellenic Aerospace Industries) to be the fourth partner with a very small percentage (max 5%) if the government would order min 40 Tornado IDS and this was stated in the Defendory 1982 in Piraeus.

Inside HAF the Tornado IDS had its own supporters, as all the other three contenders. It was obvious that it was the only plane of the four with good enough combat radius to be able to protect Cyprus, as well as the best against naval targets. The possibility that a deal would be combined with a generous second - hand acquisition of many F-104Gs of the Luftwaffe was a big plus too, since the Germans had their planes very well maintained (in contrast with e.g. the Belgians) and Turkey was very eager to get as many of these planes as possible, which was a big issue at the time. Most of all, the possibility of being together with the major players (except France) of the European Aerospace Industry was its main asset. 

In HAF service they would almost certainly had been based in Larisa, which was (still is...) the most central and better protected air base in the country, replacing the A-7Hs of the 345 and 347 squadrons, which in their turn they would replace either F-104Gs or F-5As.

At the end the Tornado IDS of the first of four to be eliminated in the selection process. A major reason counted against it - it was very obvious that its air to air capabilities were very limited and it was a pure strike aircraft. The development problems of the ADV highlighted the bomber nature of the Tornado - it was obvious that in a possible war in central Europe a Tornado armed with AIM-9s may had a chance against Warsaw pact  MiG-21 and MiG-23, but they wouldn't stand a chance against F-16s. Other reasons were the external only ECMs (HAF never used external ECM pods) and the bad performance in high alt, where in the environment of the Aegean the "fast and high" rule reigns.