Specifications

General
Design organisation	Northrop
Main secundary design organisations	General Electric
Production organisaton	Northrop & other companies in Canada, Taiwan, South-Korea, Spain and Switzerland
Primary task	Light-weight figther
Type aircraft	Fighter Jet
Specials
Length	F-5F: 51 ft. 7 in (15.7 meters) F-5N: 47ft. 4.7 in. (14.4 meters)
Height	F-5F: 13ft. 1.75in. (4.0 meters) F-5N: 13ft. 4.25in. (4.1 meters)
Wingspan	26ft. 8 in. (8.1 meters)
Wing surface
Aspect ratio
Sweep back
Dihedral
Performance
Engines	2x J85-GE-21C turbojet engines
Thrust	5,000 pounds each engine (2273kgs)
Weight (empty)
Weight (start, maximum, MTOW)	24,722 pounds (11,214 kgs)
Weight (landing, maximum, MLW)
Required runway length (start)
Required runway length (landing)
Cruise speed
Maximum speed	F-5F: Mach 1.56 at 36,000 ft F-5N: Mach 1.64 at 36,000 ft
Ceiling
Maximum range	>50,000 ft
Fuel capacity	2314 nm (4286 km) F-5F: 745 nm, 1075 nw (centerline fuel tank), 1270 nm (3x fuel tanks) F-5N: 825 nm, 1155 nm (centerline fuel tank, 1340 nm (3x fuel tanks)
Air-to-air-refueling capability	no
Passengers	none
Payload	none
Equipment
Armament	Possible combination of: - AIM-9 Sidewinder - 2x 20mm boardcanon
Maximum weapon load
Maximum G resistance
Radar	AN/APQ-159
Sensors	Possible combination of: - ALR-87 Radar Warning Receivers
Avionics	Possible combination of: - Inertial Navigation System (INS) - Chaff/Flare capability - VOR - ILS - TACAN - VHF radio - UHF radio - Radar Altimeter - HUD - HOTAS
Type flight controls
Landing gear
Usage
Versions	F-5A, F-5B, F-5E, F-5F, F-5N, F-5S, NF-5A, NF-5B,
Manufactured
Crew	F-5A/N: 1 F-5B/F: 2
Costs
Overall flight hours
First flight	F-5A: 30 July 1959 F-5F: September 1974 F-5N: March 2003
First delivery	1964
Operational since
Successor of
Replaced by	F-16 (Netherlands)
Comparable aircraft	MiG-21
Operators (current and future)	Austria, Bahrain, Botswana, Brazil, Chili, Greece, Honduras, Indonesia, Jordan, Kenya, Malaysia, Mexico, Morocco, Netherlands, Norway, Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South-Korea, Spain, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey, Tunesia, United States, Venezuela.
Main operators	United States
Amphibious usage	no
Status	out of production, in operational service

Operators

The F-5 is/was used by 33 countries of which:

1. Austria	14. Norway
2. Bahrain	15. Philippines
3. Botswana	16. Saudi-Arabia
4. Brazil	17. Singapore
5. Chile	18. South-Korea
6. Greece	19. Spain
7. Honduras	20. Switzerland / Austria
8. Indonesia	21. Thailand
9. Jordan	22. Turkey
10. Kenya	23. Tunesia
11. Malaysia	24. United States
12. Morocco	25. Venezuela
13. Netherlands

6. Greece
Greece Hellenic Air Force is still using F-5 A/B Freedom Fighters.

13. the Netherlands
The Netherlands had 75x NF-5A and 30x NF-5B Freedom Fighters between 1969 and 1991 till they were replaced by the F-16's. Some of the NF-5 tigers were sold to Turkey.

15. Philippines
The Air Force of the Philippe nd which had the ability of 37 F-5A/B fighter jets in the beginning and later still 5 operational have been retired in 2005. The role of the tiger will now be done by converted SIAI S.211 trainers which have machine guns, rockets and bombs.


19. Spain
In 1964, the Spanish Air Force got 70 F-5A and B Freedom Fighters which were build under license of CASA in Spain. After being updated they are designated with F-5M. The +/- 13 remaining F-5M's are used for training puposes by Ala 23, stationed at Talavera la Real Air Force Base in Badajoz, Spain.

20. Switzerland
The F-5 is in service with the Swiss Air Force. Swiss has leased a few F-5's to Austria which use the aircraft till they get the Eurofighter Typhoon tranche 2.

Photo's