Introduction

The Panavia Tornado is a twin-engine, variable-sweep wing multi-role combat aircraft, jointly developed and manufactured by Italy, the United Kingdom and Germany. There are three main Tornado variants: the Tornado IDS (interdictor/strike) fighter-bomber, the Tornado ECR (electronic combat/reconnaissance) SEAD aircraft and the Tornado ADV (air defence variant) interceptor aircraft. IndiaFoxtEcho’s rendition of Tornado has three versions, IDS, GR.1 and ECS.

Powered by two Turbo-Union RB199-34R, Tornado could reach a top speed of 1,300kts (at FL300) and 800kts (on ISA sea level), a service ceiling of 50,000ft, and an impressive max range for a fighter jet of around 2,100 nmi.

The Tornado was developed by Panavia Aircraft GmbH, a tri-national consortium consisting of British Aerospace, MBB of West Germany, and Aeritalia of Italy. It had its first flight on 14th August 1974 and was introduced into service in 1979. Due to its multirole design, it was able to replace several different fleets of aircraft in the adopting air forces. The Royal Saudi Air Force became the only export operator of the Tornado, in addition to the three original partner nations. Unfortunately, Panavia Tornadoes are slowly being phased out of service. The last RAF Tornado flew in 2019, while the remaining 80 in Germany are being replaced by much more modern F-35A.

IndiaFoxtEcho is a well-known developer of fighter jets for many sims, ranging from the now ancient FSX and P3Dv3 to DCS and MSFS. Tornado for MSFS will be their 10th addon for MSFS, after the F-14B, M-346, Su-31, F-35, etc.

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Distribution and Installation‍

The IndiaFoxtEcho Tornado is available for purchase on SimMarket, Orbx, and soon on the MSFS Marketplace as well. If bought on SimMarket, the addon can be installed via SimInstaller, while for Orbx, the Orbx Direct app is required for installation.

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First Impressions‍

I’ve never been a fan of military aircraft add-ons in simulators other than DCS, as the systems and visuals are usually underwhelming. However, this is not the case with the IndiaFoxtEcho (IFE) Tornado. Despite the inability to use the weapons due to limitations within the simulator, the Tornado is still a very fun and interesting aircraft to fly.

Contrary to what one would think, this beast is pretty easy to start. The extensive 250-page manual provided with the Tornado helps explain everything that might interest you, from system descriptions to procedures. Immediately after lining up on the runway and increasing the throttle, I was greeted by two Turbo-Union engines providing 76,800kN of pure power. For the first flight, I decided to fly it around, see what it was capable of, and get a feel for how to control it. And let me tell you, it is an absolute pleasure to hand-fly this masterpiece. Keep in mind though, this aircraft is not forgiving easily. One sharp turn at low airspeed can easily get you into a stall (speaking from experience), and it's not easy to get out of one, especially at lower altitudes. Nevertheless, it's still a beauty to fly.

After getting a hold of how the aircraft flies, I decided it was time to take it for a little joyride.

Taking off from a shorter runway is not a challenge for the Tornado, as it can easily take off from a 760m (2,500ft) runway! After a short cruise and testing TF (Terrain Following) mode, it was action time at the Mach Loop.

Unfortunately, as of the publishing of this review, the only way to insert a route is via the default map, or via the load function, where you can load flight plans in .pln or .flt format. Flying around high terrain at high speeds isn’t a problem for this jet. It handles quite sturdy at speeds over Mach .80, and sharp turns feel easy. A quick lap around the Mach Loop was done in less than 4 minutes! The only thing I could say was “Wow”. I did not expect that type of performance from such a stubby-looking plane.

Feeling adventurous, I wanted to fly other types of Tornadoes and more operators. A little roam through the list of liveries helped me pick my next “victim”. Saudi Arabian deserts were the perfect playground for testing the limits of the aircraft.

After a quick take-off roll, I was speeding up to M.80, eagerly waiting to do some aerobatics and test Tornado’s AP.  Autopilot has a couple of modes, all of which work flawlessly, and are easy to set up. There are two speed modes, THRUST and MACH, where THRUST works like Auto Throttle, keeping up with the selected speed on the AP panel, and MACH holds the mach speed that was present on the HUD during its engagement. Other AP modes are TRACK, FD, HDG, APRCH, and ALT, which are pretty self-explanatory. The only mode left is Radar Height, which was designed to be used during flight over water. Its function is similar to the MACH mode, except it maintains radar height, instead of Mach number.

Lombardia seemed ideal for the last flight with huge valleys with the Italian Alps nearby. Taking off from Ghedi Air Base, Garda Lake was right below us during a low flight to the mountainous terrain. In the mountains, the Tornado feels like it's in its habitat. The plane handles amazingly and it's a pure pleasure to fly it. I enjoyed my time with this incredible aircraft and I am sure that I will get back to it very soon!

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Modeling and textures

The Tornado’s cockpit is exactly what you would expect from a '70s aircraft, with analogue instruments and switches everywhere! The WSO (Weapon Systems Officer) cockpit is a bit more advanced, with a map and two screens next to it where you can check your flight plan and other navigational data. The gauges look amazing, and are very crisp, making them very easy to read. If you take a closer look at the cockpit textures, you can see the wear and tear this aircraft has endured.

The exterior looks equally beautiful, with many small details modeled. The wires and pipes in the gear bay are featured and contribute to the presentation of the complexity of this aircraft.

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Sounds

The switches and buttons in the cockpit have very satisfying sounds that I just couldn’t get enough of. There are a few versions of switch sounds, depending on the type and function of the switch. For example, the APU switch, HUD control switch and TF radar switch have completely different sounds. The APU switch has a lighter sound, while the HUD control ones give a deeper sound compared to the others. You can hear the throttle levers moving, with very nice sounding detents. Unfortunately, the engine startup can’t be heard from the cockpit, although you can hear it (and even feel it!) during take-off and when activating the afterburners.

Another interesting addition included is the sound of rudder pedals squeaking while being moved around.

The only odd thing that I found is that the APU is equally loud with an open or closed canopy. That’s not a big issue, however, and I’m sure that it will be solved in future updates.

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User Experience

The Tornado comes with a very useful circular menu that can be summoned by clicking the HUD heatsink (right under the HUD control panel). The circle is divided into eight pieces: Checklist, Navigation, TACAN, CRMPD (a fancy acronym for map display) controls, AP controls, Configuration, and Maintenance. The Checklist page gives you the option to have your WSO perform checklists for you. The Navigation, TACAN, CRMPD and AP pages are very similar: they all have options for tuning the displays/modes. The configuration page allows you to choose between many weapon configurations. Even though the weapons are just a cosmetic feature, it's nice to see that the developer made an effort to model them and give the user an option to choose. The last page is Maintenance, where you can call up the GPU unit to be connected, repair all damages, refuel the aircraft, choose if you would like the power cart, crew access ladders and “remove before flight” covers to be displayed, customise the crew gear (pick different types of helmets and oxygen masks), as well as an option to enable or disable the WSO voice.

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Lighting

The cockpit has red flood lightning, with a gloomy effect, followed by panel and instrument backlighting. The lights aren’t very bright, however, they do light up the cockpit enough to see all panels and instruments. On the outside, navigational, anti-collision, formation and obstruction lights give the aircraft enough illumination to be visible during the night.

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Conclusion

The IndiaFoxtEcho Panavia Tornado is overall an amazing aircraft, a lot of outstanding work put into the addon makes it worthy of the title “The best military jet” for Microsoft Flight Simulator. In the sea of rushed, low-effort cash grab planes, this addon stands out with its details, systems, and sounds. I was never a military plane person, I always preferred airliners over this kind of aircraft, but the Tornado made me rethink my philosophy. I am glad that I have found this gem, and I recommend it to everyone who would like to see how it is to fly a fighter jet, without installing another simulator. For $29.99, this is one of the best, if not the best quality-to-price ratios for an addon I have used.

A special thank you to IndiaFoxtEcho who provided me with a review copy!