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Aviation History
1986
1986 - 0076.PDF
1 !M«sfc;MSi8SSS'5 ik.sM ' ••'# # ;^f Old F-5s never die Asian Aerospace '86 will see many avionics manfacturers displaying the systems they are offering to update the Northrop F-5, an aircraft operated by many nations in theAsia-Pacific region. Graham Warwick reports Northrop salesmen should read no further. What follows makes disturbing reading for that intrepid band of men trying to sell the world that fine fighter, the Northrop F-20 Tigershark. At the last count there were more than 1,000 Northop F-5Es and Fs in service with some 20 countries, plus 600 or so F-5As and Bs still going strong. To North rop this is Tigershark territory. To the avionics industry this is a retrofit market ripe for harvest. Northrop might not have sold any Tigersharks yet, but in the F-5 retrofit market the harvest has begun. The desire to retrofit rather than replace is not limited to the oldest aircraft or to the smallest air forces. The US Air Force has already decided to update its F-5E and F aggressor aircraft, while Norway, which received its first F-5A in 1966, and Switzerland, which received its last F-5E in 1985, both plan to update their aircraft. Estimates of the size of the F-5 retrofit market range from 200 to 1,000 aircraft. Meanwhile, as old F-5As change hands, creating new retrofit possibilities, new F-5Es continue to roll off production lines in the USA, South Korea, and Taiwan. To the F-5s can be added the A-4s, F-4s, F-104s, Mirages, MiG-21s and 23s, and even Su-22s that are candidates for updating. Why, after years of unfulfilled promise, has the retrofit market finally materi alised? The answer lies in the prohibitive cost of modern front-line fighters. Air forces which have bought the F-16 or Mirage 2000 find themselves able to afford so few that only by updating their existing fighters can they maintain an effective force. More than one retrofit specialist has told Flight that an entire squadron of F-5s—20 aircraft—could be updated for the cost of a single F-16. One went on to say that a $ million retrofit could give an F-5E a weapon-delivery capability equal ling that of an F-16A. Another pointed out that F-5 flying rates are often low, and that some 15-year-old airframes are good for another 20 years flying. There is no shortage of companies offer ing equipment suitable for retrofit. Iron ically, equipment developed for the F-16, Mirage 2000, and even for Northrop's own F-20, is now being offered to update the F-4s, F-5s, and Mirage Ills that these aircraft are intended to replace. The 70 problem is to decide which system, or combination of systems, offers the most effect for the least cost. Before proceeding with an update the operator must first decide exactly what it is he wishes to achieve, otherwise he could pay for needless sophistication. An increase in air-combat effectiveness does not necessarily provide, or even require, a similar improvement in ground-attack capability. In ground attack the bottom line is bombs on target. More bombs on target means fewer aircraft to accomplish a mission, and therefore more effect from a fixed number of fighters. The key to air- combat effectiveness, in contrast, is the ability to see an attacker before he sees you, regardless of his altitude. At the core of most retrofit programmes is a navigation and weapon-delivery system which can be expanded later to encompass, for example, smart weapons, electronic warfare, and night attack. Elements of such a system include new air data and inertial navigation systems, headup display and weapon-aiming computer (Hudwac), or Hud and central computer. The F-5E is equipped as standard with a FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL, 4 January 1986
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