Northrop F-5 Agressor

Wallpaper Description:

The Northrop F-5 is a part of a family of light supersonic fighter aircraft, initially designed in the late 1950's by Northrop Corporation.

Being smaller and simpler than contemporaries such as the McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II, the F-5 cost less to both procure and operate, making it a popular export aircraft.

According to Pierre Sprey, it was perhaps the most effective U.S. air-to-air fighter in the 1960's and early 1970's.

A small visual and radar cross section size and consequent detection difficulty often conferred the F-5 the advantage of surprise.

The aircraft also has a high sortie rate, low accident rate, high manoeuvrability, and is armed with a combination of 20mm cannon and heat seeking missiles.

The flying qualities of the F-5 are often highly rated, comparable to the North American F-86 Sabre and the General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon.

Fiscally, it is reportedly unmatched among supersonic fighters, contributing to its long service life.

General characteristics

Crew: 1
Length: 47 ft 4¾ in (14.45 m)
Wingspan: 26 ft 8 in (8.13 m)
Height: 13 ft 4½ in (4.08 m)
Wing area: 186 ft² (17.28 m²)
Airfoil: NACA 65A004.8 root, NACA 64A004.8 tip
Empty weight: 9,558 lb (4,349 kg)
Loaded weight: 15,745 lb (7,157 kg)
Max. takeoff weight: 24,722 lb (11,214 kg)
Powerplant: 2 × General Electric J85-GE-21B turbojet
Dry thrust: 3,500 lbf (15.5 kN) each
Thrust with afterburner: 5,000 lbf (22.2 kN) each
Zero-lift drag coefficient: 0.0200
Drag area: 3.4 ft² (0.32 m²)
Aspect ratio: 3.86
Internal fuel: 677 U.S. gal (2,563 L)
External fuel: 275 U.S. gal (1,040 L) per tank in up to 3 tanks

Performance

Maximum speed: 917 kn (Mach 1.6, 1,060 mph, 1,700 km/h) ; at altitude
Range: 760 nmi (870 mi, 1,405 km)
Ferry range: 2,010 nmi (2,310 mi, 3,700 km[144])
Service ceiling: 51,800 ft (15,800 m)
Rate of climb: 34,400 ft/min (175 m/s)
Lift-to-drag ratio: 10.0

Armament

Guns: 2× 20 mm (0.787 in) M39A2 Revolver cannons in the nose, 280 rounds/gun
Hardpoints: 7 total (only pylon stations 3, 4 and 5 are wet-plumbed): 2× wing-tip AAM launch rails, 4× under-wing & 1× under-fuselage pylon stations with a capacity of 7,000 pounds (3,200 kg) and provisions to carry combinations of:
Rockets: ***2× LAU-61/LAU-68 rocket pods (each with 19× /7× Hydra 70 mm rockets, respectively); or
2× LAU-5003 rocket pods (each with 19× CRV7 70 mm rockets); or
2× LAU-10 rocket pods (each with 4× Zuni 127 mm rockets); or
2× Matra rocket pods (each with 18× SNEB 68 mm rockets)
Missiles: ***4× AIM-9 Sidewinders or 4× AIM-120 AMRAAM air-to-air missile
2× AGM-65 Maverick air-to-surface missiles
AA-8 Aphid, AA-10 Alamo, AA-11 Archer and other Russian/Chinese AAMs (Iranian ver.)
Bombs: A variety of air-to-ground ordnance such as the Mark 80 series of unguided bombs (including 3 kg and 14 kg practice bombs), CBU-24/49/52/58 cluster bomb munitions, napalm bomb canisters and M129 Leaflet bomb, and laser-guided bombs of Paveway family.
Other: ***up to 3× 150/275 U.S. gallon Sargent Fletcher drop tanks for ferry flight or extended range/loitering time.
2× GPU-5/A 30mm cannon pods (fitted only on Thai F-5s)

Avionics

Emerson Electric AN/APQ-153 radar on early batch of F-5E
Emerson Electric AN/APQ-159 radar on later production F-5E
AN/AVQ-27 Laser Target Designator Set (LTDS), for F-5B and F-5F only.