The Northrop F-5 tactical fighter was designed as an extremely maneuverable, supersonic fighter
with a high rate of reliability at a low operating cost. The F-5 first flew on July 30, 1959 with the
first customer delivery in 1964. The last of more than 2,600 F-5’s was produced in 1989 and
about two-thirds of these are still in service with 26 countries more than 4 decades later. The F-5
was manufactured by Northrop Grumman and under license in Canada, Taiwan, South Korea,
Spain and Switzerland.

Established as VA-127 “Batmen” they were re-designated VFA-127 “Desert Bogeys” in March
1987 and moved to NAS Fallon, Nevada. Strike Fighter Squadron VA-127 was the only USN
adversary squadron permanently stationed in Nevada and was responsible for training pilots in
air-to-air combat. In its role as an aggressor aircraft the F-5E often served as a MIG 21 or MIG 23
in combat simulations. VFA-127 was disestablished on March 23, 1996. Last known location of
160792 is at the Prop and Jet Museum, Hemet California.

Specifications Northrop F-5E Tiger II

Crew: 1

Dimensions
Length - 47 ft 4.75 in   (14.45 m)
Wingspan - 26 ft 8 in   (8.13 m)
Height - 13 ft 4.5 in   (4.08 m)

Powerplant
2 x General Electric J85-GE-21B turbojet
Dry thrust - 3,500 lbf (15.5 kN) per engine
Thrust with afterburner - 5,000 lbf (22.2 kN) per engine
Internal fuel - 677 US gal (2,563 L)
External fuel - 275 US gal (1,040 L) per tank in up to 3 tanks

Weight
Empty weight - 9,558 lb   (4,349 kg)
Loaded weight - 15,745 lb   (7,157 kg)
Max takeoff weight - 20,486 lb   (9,312 kg)

Performance
Maximum speed - 917 kn   (1,060 mph, 1,700 km/h, Mach 1.6)
Range - 760 nmi   (870 mi, 1,405 km)
Ferry range - 2,010 nmi   (2,310 mi, 3,700 km)
Service ceiling - 51,800 ft   (15,800 m)

Armament
Guns – 2 x 20 mm (0.787 in) Pontiac M39A2 Revolver cannons in the nose, 280 rounds/gun
Hardpoints - 7 total (3 x wet): 2 x wing-tip AAM launch rails, 4 x under-wing and 1 x under-
fuselage pylon stations holding up to 7,000 pounds (3,200 kg) of payload.
Rockets
2 x LAU-61/LAU-68 rocket pods (each with 19 x / 7 x Hydra 70 mm rockets, respectively)
or
2 x LAU-5003 rocket pods (each with 19 x CRV7 70 mm rockets)
or
2 x LAU-10 rocket pods (each with 4 x Zuni 127 mm rockets)
or
2 x Matra rocket pods (each with 18 x SNEB 68 mm rockets)
Missiles:
Air-to-air missile:
4 x AIM-9 Sidewinders
or
4 x AIM-120 AMRAAMs
Air-to-surface missile:
2 x AGM-65 Mavericks
Bombs: A variety of air-to-ground ordnance such as the Mark 80 series of unguided iron bombs
(including 3 kg and 14 kg practice bombs), CBU-24/49/52/58 cluster bomb munitions, napalm
bomb canisters and M129 Leaflet bomb and laser guided bombs of Paveway family.
Others: up to 3 x 150/275 US gallon Sargent Fletcher drop tanks for ferry flight or extended
range/loitering time.
Avionics
Emerson Electric AN/APQ-153 radar on early batch of F-5E
Emerson Electric AN/APQ-159 radar on later production F-5E

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