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.

An agreement was reached that allowed Taiwan’s AIDC Company and Northrop to jointly
produce the F-5E. The first AIDC-built F-5E rolled off the production line on October 30,
1974. This was one day prior to the Taiwan President Chiang Kai Shek’s birthday so the
aircraft was name “Chung Chen” (an alias of President Chiang). By the end of November
1977 100 aircraft had been completed. Later an additional 208 aircraft were produced in
five batches but this was increased as time went on. The last F-5 of the program was
completed on December 9, 1986 with a final total of 242 F-5E and 66 F-5F.

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

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