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2015-10-01

TIGER’S TALE..F-5 fighter series serves with distinction for four decades

The F-5 is an agile, highly maneuverable, reliable supersonic fighter, combining advanced aerodynamic design, engine performance and low operating costs. One of the most enduring military aircraft designs ever introduced, Northrop Grumman Corporation’s F-5 tactical fighter series has served its customers more than four decades.

More than 2,600 were built by Northrop Grumman and under co-production and licensing agreements with Canada, the Republic of China, the Republic of Korea, Spain and Switzerland.

From the F-5’s first delivery in 1964 to its final one in 1989, every aircraft was delivered on schedule, at or below the contract price, and with performance as promised.

Approximately two-thirds of the original production F-5’s remain operational in 26 countries, including the United States. The US Navy operates the F-5 in its adversary squadrons to simulate enemy aircraft in aerial combat training exercises. The US Air Force used the F-5 in a similar training role.

As the original manufacturer, Northrop Grumman has the expertise in F-5 weapons systems integration and logistics to support the fleet for its projected life. Since two-thirds of F-5 user countries also operate F-16s, F/A-18s, F-15s or Mirage aircraft, the F-5’s role has shifted from a prime fighter to a lead-in trainer.

Many of the international F-5 operators are considering (and some have committed to) basic structural life extension programs and avionics/subsystems upgrade packages to obtain an effective lead-in trainer with a modest investment.

Extending life

Because this new projected role will extend the life of the F-5, Northrop Grumman has focused on a total system support plan approach that will ensure current F-5 users can obtain the necessary structure spare parts and systems upgrades.

In addition to structural upgrades, Northrop Grumman expanded its F-5 spare parts business to include selected, quality companies as licensed suppliers of F-5 parts to provide a “one-stop shop” team for total support. This team is licensed to use Northrop Grumman F-5 data and technical support to provide each F-5 user with the highest quality, most affordable spares available.

Since 1999, Northrop Grumman has been under contract to the US Navy to perform depot level maintenance for the Navy’s fleet of F-5E/F aircraft.

The goal of the maintenance program is to provide structurally sound F-5 aircraft that will operate safely in the severe spectrum associated with the adversary role of the F-5 fleet. This activity, along with the Navy’s structural upgrade program, is being extended to include the additional F-5E aircraft that will permit the Navy to maintain its F-5 adversary capability in the future.

Based on the new role of the F-5 as a lead-in trainer aircraft, there is a need for additional two-place training aircraft. Northrop Grumman is offering a conversion kit that will modify a single cockpit F-5E aircraft to a dual cockpit F-5F aircraft. This conversion will replace the F-5E forward fuselage with a newly manufactured F-5F forward fuselage at the basic manufacturing attachment assembly point.

In addition to the basic structural upgrade and F-5F conversion programs, Northrop Grumman has provided subsystems upgrade retrofit kits that include an INS/GPS navigation system, an antiskid brake system, and an onboard oxygen-generating system that reduces operating cost compared to the current liquid oxygen system.

F-5 Tiger II

The F-5 Tiger II, a single-seat twin-engined supersonic fighter aircraft, was developed by Northrop Grumman, US. The aircraft took its maiden flight on 11 August 1972 and entered into service in 1975. It is the upgraded version of the F-5A Freedom fighter aircraft developed by Northrop Grumman in early 1959.

The production of F-5A-21 began in 1970 by Northrop Grumman and at the same time the aircraft was renamed ‘F-5E Tiger II’. The avionics of the F-5E Tiger II are more sophisticated compared to the earlier version F-5A aircraft. It rolled out from production in 1987 and since then has undergone various upgrades to compete with changing combat environments.

The aircraft costs are low and can be easily maintained compared to the F-15 and F-16 aircraft. It was used in the Cold War by the US Air Force (USAF) for training and war purposes. The aircraft can accommodate a single pilot.

The Swiss Government unveiled a decision in January 2010 to replace its F-5 Tiger II fleet with modern combat aircraft as the fleet is approaching the end of its operational life. The Swiss Air Force acquired 66 F-5E single-seater aircraft under the armaments programme in 1975.

Northrop Grumman signed a contract with RUAG aviation in May 2010 to provide worldwide sustainment and lifecycle logistics and offer a broad capability to customers of F-5 Tiger aircraft.

In 2010, the Republic of Korea Air Force decided to incorporate advanced ejection seats in the cockpit of its F-5 fleet in order to save pilots during emergency landings. A total of 150 F-5s will be equipped with ejection seats at a cost of $4.2m. The work was completed in 2013.

The Brazilian Air Force awarded a contract to Embraer Defence and Security (EDS) in 2011 to overhaul 11 additional F-5 jet fighters.

F-5E Tiger II variants

The F-5E Tiger II aircraft has two variants, F-5E Tiger III and F-5EM. The F-5E Tiger III is an upgraded model of the F-5E Tiger II and is principally used by the Chilean Air Force for training its pilots. In 2009, the 16 F-5E Tiger III aircraft were replaced with F-16 MLU T5.

The F-5EM, another variant, is an advanced model of the F-5E and was developed by Northrop Grumman for the Brazilian Air Force.

Design

The aircraft is designed to offer great versatility and superiority during air-to-ground and air-to-air operations. It has been designed to have only 30 per cent of the gross weight of the F-4 aircraft. The length and width of the fuselage section was extended to accommodate the powerful J85 engine and more fuel.

The delta shape of the aircraft was obtained by redesigning the forward wing root of its earlier version. The wings of the F-5E were equipped with enlarged leading edge extensions, thereby enhancing the wing area and manoeuvrability.

Northrop successfully completed the aircraft structural integrity program (ASIP) in 1975. The main motive of the ASIP program was to check whether the structural design of the aircraft would successfully perform air-to-air and air-to-ground operations in hostile environments.

The F-5E airframe was developed by Northrop Grumman. The USAF awarded a fixed price contract worth $415.6m to Northrop Grumman in December 1970 to engineer, develop and produce the F-5E airframe. The engine for the aircraft was developed by General Electric and assembled by Northrop Grumman.

The advanced aircraft features a single-seat cockpit equipped with number of electronic systems, namely automatic flight control systems (AFCS), head-up display (HUD) and other auxiliary equipment.

The F-5E Tiger II is armed with two 20mm pontiac M39A2 cannons on either side of the nose. The M39A2 is a single-barrelled automatic cannon and can fire munitions at the rate of 1,500rpm. The aircraft features seven hard-points – two under the wing tip, four under the two wings, and one under the fuselage pylon station.

Four AIM-9 Sidewinder air-to-air missiles and two AGM-65 Mavericks air-to-surface missiles as well as rockets are mounted on the seven hard points. The aircraft is also armed with unguided iron bombs, CBU-24/49/52/58 cluster bomb munitions, napalm bomb canisters and M129 leaflet bombs.

The avionics equipped in the aircraft include an inertial navigation system (INS), tactical air navigation (TACN) system, global positioning system (GPS), electronic counter measures (ECM), and hand on throttle and stick (HOTAS) system.

The F-5 Tiger II was initially equipped with an AN/APQ-153 radar. In all the upgraded variants produced later, the Emerson AN/APQ-159 radar was installed. The aircraft comprises an air-to-air fire control radar system and a lead computing gunsight.

The AN/APQ-159 has replaced the AN/APQ-153 radar. The AN/APQ-159 is an air-to-air radar system, which operates in four primary modes and two search modes with various ranges.

The advanced radar system provides increased off-boresight and doubles the range while enhancing the reliability.

It is equipped with new planar phased array antenna similar to the parabolic dish of the AN/APQ-153.

The aircraft is powered by two General Electric J85-GE-21B turbojet engines. Each engine can produce a thrust after burner of 22.2kN. The engine is principally used in commercial and military models for training and tactical purposes.

It provides a maximum thrust-to-weight ratio compared to any other aircraft engine in the world. The engine is currently serving 35 countries worldwide.

The F-5E can climb at the rate of 175m/s. The maximum speed of the aircraft is 1,700km/h. The ferry and normal ranges of the aircraft are 3,700km and 1,405km respectively. The service ceiling is 15,800m. The aircraft weighs around 4,349kg and the maximum take-off weight is 11,187kg.The aircraft is designed to offer great versatility and superiority during operations .

Reference Text/Photos:

www.northropgrumman.com

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