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.

Marine Fighter Training Squadron 401 (VMFT-401 “Snipers”) was activated in March 1986 at
Marine Corps Air Station Yuma, Arizona and is the USMC’s only adversary squadron. The USN
acquired low hour F-5E/F’s from Switzerland with the USMC obtaining three of these aircraft.
They combined the tail and cockpit forward of their own F-5F with the wings and fuselage of the
Swiss F-5E’s creating a “Franken- Tiger”. Aircraft 761586 was the first of three to be created. In
2011 762586 was given a paint scheme to mark the 25th Anniversary of VFMT-401.

Specification for the Northrop F-5E/ F-5F Tiger II
Number Built – 1,400 + E/F
Role F-5F - Two-seat Combat Trainer Version Of The F-5E Tiger II

Dimensions
Length (F-5E) - 47 feet 4.75 inch (14.65 m)
Length (F-5F) - 51 feet 4 inch (15.65 m)
Wingspan F-5E & F-5F – 26 ft 8 in
Height (F-5E) - 13 feet 4 inch (4.06 m)
Height (F-5F) - 13 feet 1.75 inch (4.01 m)

Weight
Empty Weight (F-5E) – 9,723 lb (4,410 kg)
Empty Weight (F-5F) - 10,576 lb (4,797 kg)
Max Take-off Weight (F-5E) - 24,722 lb (11,214 kg)
Max Take-off Weight (F-5F) - 25,152 lb (11,409 kg)

Performance
Powerplant – 2 x General Electric J85-GE-21B Turbojets With 5,000 lb.s.t. With
Afterburning
Maximum Speed F-5E – Mach 1.64 @ 36,000 ft
Maximum Speed F-5F – Mach 1.55 @ 36,000 ft

Range (F-5E) - 1,545 nm (2,863 km)
Range (F-5F) - 1,270 nm (2,353 km)
Service Ceiling (F-5E) - 51,800 ft (15,780 m)
Service Ceiling (F-5F) - 50,800 ft (15,484 m)
Max Rate of Climb (F-5E) - 34,500 feet/min
Max Rate of Climb (F-5F) - 32,900 feet/min

Armament
1 x In-Nose 20mm M39A2 Cannon With 140 Rounds
2 x AIM-9 Sidewinder Missiles On Wing Tips
5 x Pylons Capable Of Carrying Up To 7,000 lbs. Of Ordnance Or Fuel
1 x Under Fuselage Center-line
4 x Under Wing (2/Wing)

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