ABSTRACT
This chapter outlines developments in the Tornado saga, and, although cancellation is viewed as extremely unlikely, considers the conversion potential embodied in the resources devoted to that project. Approval for production of the ‘common’ version Multi-role Combat Aircraft MRCA Tornado was announced on 5 March 1976; 220 will be produced, and the intention to order 165 copies of the British-only Air Defence Variant was confirmed, and full development approved. British aerospace, along with the rest of West European aerospace, is in a profound crisis. Since 1968, BAC’s civil aviation division has announced mass redundancies on no less than seven occasions. Cancellation of Tornado would release in excess of 5,500 workers at BAC and 4,000 at Rolls-Royce, plus plant space and machinery, for alternative work. A consideration that frequently escapes the attention of those working in this field is the question of the kind of framework within which converted capacity would function.
