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An F-5E fighter jet at the Taitung Zhi Aviation Military Base crashed into the sea on the morning of the 29th. Pilot Zhu Guanluo was killed. After the accident, many opinions mentioned that “the fighter plane was old and was not replaced in time”. The ROC Air Force has served for more than 40 years, and the cause of the accident appears to have been determined. However, this vision is really sloppy. The F-5E has been in service for a long time, but “old” doesn’t necessarily mean “old.” If there is a continuous update of the equipment and the performance update is the key point. From this perspective, the Air Force has a F performance upgrade is really insufficient. In fact, F-5Es in other countries are continually updated and improved in performance, including Thailand, Brazil, and even our neighboring South Korea. The F-5Es are being updated so these slot fighters can keep up with the times and safer.
To tell the story of the F-5E / F, we can start with the US T-38 “Eagle Claw” (Talon) trainer that first flew in 1959. In fact, Northrop originally wanted to design a small super El sonic fighter, the name of the project is N-156, but the US Air Force said at the time that they did not have the corresponding requirements, but they needed to replace the T-33 trainer and hope to have supersonic performance. So Northrop’s engineering team modified the N-156 into a two-seater model and soon formed a qualified trainer, namely the T-38. Additionally, the US Air Force continues to use the T-38, which has been in service for 61 years.
The T-38 fully meets the needs of the United States Air Force training aircraft, and logistics are easy. After modifying the weapon circuit, you will be able to have weapon projection capabilities, turning it into a small fighter. It so happened that in the international situation in the 1960s, the United States needed to provide emerging countries in the free field with an easy-to-repair, easy-to-learn and cheap export fighter, so the F fighter plane came out. -5A / B modified from T-38. Since it is provided to the countries of the free world, it is called “Freedom Fighter”. Countries such as the ROC, the Philippines and South Vietnam have used F-5A / B.
Although the F-5A / B is combat capable and can launch Sidewinder missiles, it does not have a radar installed and air combat can only depend on visual observation from the pilot, which has considerable restrictions. Therefore, in 1970, a small air use was installed in the nose of the aircraft. The F-5E / F fighter appeared, which is an important avionics equipment such as radar, radar early warning device, etc., and its performance was significantly improved, which was different from the F-5A / B, so also its nickname was changed to the Tiger Type 2. “Tiger II” is also sold to many developing countries that have just started to take off economically, including the ROC, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, etc., and also It is sold to dozens of countries, including Switzerland, Belgium, Brazil, and Chile. Period “, the total number of F-5Es worldwide reached 1,400.
With such a large number of F-5Es in the world, improving fighter performance has always been a business opportunity for many aviation companies. In fact, since the 1990s, many countries have been improving the performance of “tiger fighters” to keep “tigers from aging.” And thanks to the next generation of electronic technology revolution, many avionics can be small and powerful. Countries like the United States, South Korea, Brazil, Thailand, etc. have their own performance improvement programs.
The United States Navy also has several F-5N fighters that serve as imaginary enemy forces against different types of fighters. In February of last year, he proposed a life extension project to the F-5’s maker, which is Northrop Grumman. The contract, the price reached 16.8 million US dollars. The contract requires Northrop Grumman Group to perform aircraft inspection, maintenance, overhaul, emergency maintenance and modification work for 44 F-5Ns.
Additionally, the Thai Air Force cooperated with Rafael in 2017 to significantly upgrade the F-5E and introduce the Israeli Python-4 agile short-range air-to-air missile and medium-range Derby missile. (DERby missile), along with Elbit’s helmet sight, will now add the Litening 3 sighting capsule and Skyshield electronic warfare capsule, and even the communication equipment has been upgraded to the HAVE QUICK II frequency hopping system. The Thai Air Force referred to this upgrade as the “Super Tiger” project, saying that after the upgrade, “the performance will not lose to the F-16.”
Additionally, Brazil in South America recently completed the F-5E upgrade project. They have cooperated with Sweden since 2005 to install 49 active duty F-5E fighters with a new generation of electronic warfare systems, full color display screens, In-flight control computer and multi-function front display screen, F-5E will be upgraded , called F-5M.
In contrast, our ROC Air Force has treated the F-5E fleet with too much negligence. After getting IDF, F-16 and Mirage 2000, we have been reluctant to invest in F-5E. In fact, in 1996, Hanxiang Company calculated that IDF avionics and radar were added to the F-5E project, called “Tiger 2000”. Unfortunately, the Air Force has always been uninterested, and even Air Force top management has listened. During the F-5E upgrade plan, there would still be tough questions to ask “How long will the F-5E be used?” Decades have passed, however, as the Air Force trainer aircraft has not yet been available, so this batch of F-5E has If the older face continues to fight, flight safety will of course decrease. .
Speaking of flight safety, in fact, the original F-5E ejection chair is underperforming and has a risk of ejection at low altitude, but this can be improved. The Korean Air Force cooperated with Martin-Baker in May 2011. An upgrade contract was reached for the ejection seat of the F-5 E fighter. Following the upgrade, there is no height limit when the ejection seat is activated. The speed limit has also been greatly relaxed compared to the past, which also provides drivers when faced with abandonment and escape. , A more reliable security guarantee.
Our country is in a difficult situation and there are not many opportunities to obtain military products, in fact, we must strive to maintain, upgrade and improve the performance of existing equipment. Besides the fact that the F-5E has not been updated for many years, our C-130H transport plane has not been updated for a long time. The instrument and avionics system remains the same as 30 years ago. I sincerely hope that the high-level military command can pay more attention to existing armaments. This kind of work is no less than buying new weapons.
(Zhongshi News Network)
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