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.

In 1976 the Swiss signed a contract for 72 F-5 aircraft. 66 were to be single-seat F-5Es and
6 were to be two-seat F-5Fs. The parts were manufactured in the U.S. and the aircraft
were assembled in Switzerland. In 1981 they ordered another 32 F-5Es and 6 F-5Fs. The
F-5E J-3026 was procured on October 10, 1979. In time the Swiss Air Force decided to
upgrade their aircraft so some the F-5s were considered excess and since the airframes
had very low hours the USN arranged to buy 38 Tiger II’s to be delivered between 2003
and 2007 to increase their Aggressor squadrons. On May 2, 2003 F-5E J-3026 was
delivered to VFC-13 as F-5N 76-1551.

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)
Rate of climb - 34,400 ft/min   (175 m/s)

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

This new site is being updated regularly and it will be much improved before too long. Please be patient, give it time, and check back regularly. Opportunities for community collaboration are in the works for a little further down the road.