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Air Power Series>1:72 die-cast display model>F-5>HA3325

Northrop F-5E Tiger II 730855, VMFT-401 "Snipers", June 2006
HA3325
General Background
The Northrop F-5 tactical fighter was designed as an extremely maneuverable, supersonic fighter with a high rate of reliability at a low operating cost. The F-5 first flew on July 30, 1959 with the first customer delivery in 1964. The last of more than 2,600 F-5’s was produced in 1989 and about two-thirds of these are still in service with 26 countries more than 4 decades later. The F-5 was manufactured by Northrop Grumman and under license in Canada, Taiwan, South Korea, Spain and Switzerland.
The Aircraft
This Northrop F-5E Tiger II was provided to the South Vietnam Air Force and was returned to the USN as 730855 C/N R-1036. In April 1989 the aircraft became the property of VMFT-401 “Snipers” Adversary Squadron at Yuma, Arizona as Adversary 01. Marine Fighter Training Squadron 401 (VMFT-401 “Snipers”) was activated in March 1986 at Marine Corps Air Station Yuma, Arizona and is the USMC’s only adversary squadron. In 2006 F-5E 730855 was sent to VFC-13 “Fighting Saints” and in 2012 retired to AMARC.
Specifications :
Crew: 1
Dimensions
Length: 47 ft 4.75 in (14.45 m)
Wingspan: 26 ft 8 in (8.13 m)
Height: 13 ft 4.5 in (4.08 m)
Powerplant: 2 X General Electric J85-GE-21B turbojet
Dry thrust: 3,500 lbf (15.5 kN) per engine
Thrust with afterburner: 5,000 lbf (22.2 kN) per engine
Internal fuel : 677 US gal (2,563 L)
External fuel: 275 US gal (1,040 L) per tank in up to 3 tanks
Weight
Empty weight: 9,558 lb (4,349 kg)
Loaded weight: 15,745 lb (7,157 kg)
Max takeoff weight: 20,486 lb (9,312 kg)
Performance
Maximum speed: 917 kn (1,060 mph, 1,700 km/h, Mach 1.6)
Range: 760 nmi (870 mi, 1,405 km)
Ferry range: 2,010 nmi (2,310 mi, 3,700 km)
Service ceiling: 51,800 ft (15,800 m)
Rate of climb: 34,400 ft/min (175 m/s)
Armament
Guns: 2 X 20 mm (0.787 in) Pontiac M39A2 Revolver cannons in the nose, 280 rounds/gun
Hardpoints: 7 total (3 X wet): 2 X wing-tip AAM launch rails, 4 X under-wing and 1 X under-fuselage pylon stations holding up to 7,000 pounds (3,200 kg) of payload.
Rockets: 2 X LAU-61/LAU-68 rocket pods (each with 19 X / 7 X Hydra 70 mm rockets, respectively) or
2 X LAU-5003 rocket pods (each with 19 X CRV7 70 mm rockets) or
2 X LAU-10 rocket pods (each with 4 X Zuni 127 mm rockets) or
2 X Matra rocket pods (each with 18 X SNEB 68 mm rockets)
Missiles
Air-to-air missile: 4 X AIM-9 Sidewinders or 4 X AIM-120 AMRAAMs
Air-to-surface missile: 2 X AGM-65 Mavericks
Bombs: A variety of air-to-ground ordnance such as the Mark 80 series of unguided iron 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.
Others: up to 3 X 150/275 US gallon Sargent Fletcher drop tanks for ferry flight or extended range/loitering time.
Avionics: Emerson Electric AN/APQ-153 radar on early batch of F-5E
Emerson Electric AN/APQ-159 radar on later production F-5E