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Northrop F-20 (F-5G) Tigershark
Northrop developed the F-20 "Tigershark" as an improved version of the F-5E intended for foreign military sales (FMS). The aircraft first flew on 30 August 1982 and compiled an impressive performance, reliability and weapons delivery record. During its flight test program, the F-20 fired the AIM-7 "Sparrow" and AIM-9 "Sidewinder" air-to-air missiles, AGM-65 "Maverick" air-to-ground missile, 2.75" folding fin aerial rockets (FFAR), dropped MK82 bombs, and fired rounds from a 30mm gun pod in addition to the two internal M-39 20mm cannon.
The F-20 was never considered for USAF service and the US Navy decided to buy F-16s for its aggressor aircraft
program. These two facts essentially doomed the F-20 FMS program. Although the test
program demonstrated the potential of the F-20, countries tended to buy the F-16, in part, because it was used by
the USAF and USN (and the F-20 was not).
| General characteristics | |||
| Power plant | One General Electric F-404-GE-100 afterburning turbofan | ||
| Thrust with afterburner | 17,000 lb | 75.62 kN | |
| Max. speed | 1,557 mph (Mach 2,1) | 2,506 km/h | |
| Ceiling | 55,000 ft | 16,765 m | |
| Initial climb rate | 50,300 ft/min | 15,331 m/min | |
| Max. range | 1,715 miles | 2,760 km | |
| Combat radius | 345 mil | 555 km | |
| Fuel capacity | internal tanks | 677 US gal. | 2,563 lt |
| with ext. tanks | 1,502 US gal. | 5,686 lt | |
| Wingspan | 28 ft | 8.53 m | |
| Length | 46 ft 6 in | 14.17 m | |
| Height | 13 ft 10 in | 4.11 m | |
| Wingarea | 186 sq. ft | 17.28 sq. m | |
| Weight | empty | 11,220 lb | 5,090 kg |
| combat | 15,060 lb | 6,831 kg | |
| max. takeoff | 26,290 lb | 11,925 kg | |
| Armament | Two20mm cannons in nose, two AIM-9 Sidewinder guided missiles on wingtips, under wings up to 8,000 lb (3630 kg) weapons or external tanks. | ||
Jirka Wagner
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