The Panavia Tornado Air Defence Variant (ADV) is a long-range, twin-engine interceptor version of the swing-wing Panavia Tornado. The aircraft's first flight was on 27 October 1979, and it entered service in 1986. It was retired on 22 March 2011 by the Royal Air Force, and is currently in service only with the Royal Saudi Air Force. It was also previously operated by the Italian Air Force.
The aircraft was originally designed to intercept Soviet bombers as they came in from the East to strike the United Kingdom. The Tornado ADV for the Royal Saudi Air Force were produced to F3 standard. Both the RAF and RSAF have or are replacing the Tornado ADV with the Eurofighter Typhoon.
