On Might 31 a U.S. Navy F-5E Tiger II third era fighter crashed into the ocean off Key West, Florida, with the pilot ejecting safely and being recovered by an MH-60S search and rescue helicopter shortly afterwards. Primarily based at Naval Air Station Key West, the fighter belonged to the Fighter Squadron Composite 111 Navy Reserve adversary squadron. It’s loss marked the second for the U.S. Navy to an accident in beneath a month, after an F-16 crashed in South Korea on Might 6. Alongside the Navy, the Marine Corps has additionally continued to function F-5s beneath Marine Fighter Coaching Squadron 401. Strikes to develop the F-5 fleet had been made in 2019 via acquisitions of second hand airframes that had been being retired by the Swiss Air Power attributable to their perceived worth for adversary coaching. Such coaching entails F-5 pilots simulate the capabilities of enemy plane reminiscent of MiG-21s in mock battles towards courses in frontline service reminiscent of F-35s or F-18Es.
The third era F-5 is a direct predecessor to the fourth era F-16 and fifth era F-35, with all having been designed as lighter and cheaper counterparts to high finish heavyweights of their respective occasions the F-4, F-15 and F-22. The F-5E Tiger II enhanced variant first flew in 1972, simply two years earlier than the F-16, and proved in style on export markets with Taiwan alone license producing near 300. Main remaining operators embrace Taiwan, South Korea and Iran, though within the former two they’re being changed by the F-16 Block 70/72 and the FA-50 respectively. The Taiwanese F-5 fleet has confirmed significantly problematic in recent times, with three misplaced to accidents in beneath six months from October 29, 2020. The category is nonetheless thought-about comparatively dependable, and in contrast to the F-16 and F-35 it notably advantages from engine redundancy attributable to its twin engine configuration.
The F-5’s exceptionally low operational prices and upkeep necessities have made it extremely prized for roles reminiscent of aggressor coaching, and allowed nations reminiscent of South Korea to discipline fighter fleets that are on paper very giant by filling a number of squadrons with a whole lot of the plane. The F-5E Tiger II has seen bold upgrades proposed on a number of events, in addition to a extremely bold successor developed beneath the F-20 program, though this failed to achieve purchasers and by no means entered serial manufacturing. Essentially the most bold improve package deal to have been broadly carried out has been the Thai-Israeli F-5TH program, which introduced fighters into service from late 2019 integrating AESA radars, a Hyperlink-T datalinks and trendy past visible vary missiles – with cannons eliminated to compensate for the added weight. One other extremely bold improve package deal was developed by Taiwan, the F-5E Tiger 2000, which together with integration of indigenous energetic radar air to air missiles amongst different property, though the primary orders for F-16s in 1992 resulted in this system’s cancellation. The low operational prices of the F-5 in comparison with trendy fighter courses just like the F-16 has created a robust incentive to improve the plane, with the U.S. Navy and Marines’ fighters persevering with to obtain enhancements together with the combination of recent ejection seats – one thing the seats’ producer Martin Baker didn’t maintain again from highlighting when the pilot survived the newest accident.
