F-20 Tigershark
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| F-20 Tigershark | |
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| Type | Fighter aircraft |
| Manufacturer | Northrop |
| Maiden flight | 30 August 1982 |
| Introduced | n/a |
| Status | Did not enter production |
| Number built | 3 |
| Program cost | US$1,200,000,000 |
| Developed from | Northrop F-5 |
The Northrop F-20 Tigershark (initially F-5G) was a privately financed fighter aircraft, designed and built by Northrop (now Northrop Grumman) in the USA, starting in 1975 and offered for sale starting in the 1980s and formally ending in the early 1990s.
It began as a further evolution of Northrop's F-5 Freedom Fighter/Tiger II, although ultimately it shared little more than a strong family resemblance to that aircraft.
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[edit] Development
It was originally designated F-5G, which was approved by the USAF in May 1981. The initial request for F-20 was initially turned down in 1982, the USAF proposing F-19 which ended up not being used at all. The USAF finally gave approval for F-20 designation use in November 1982 and of the extra name Tigershark in March 1983.
A major change was the replacement of the F-5's two General Electric J85 engines with a single General Electric F404 turbofan, increasing its total thrust by 60%. Like the F-5, however, it was designed as a low-cost, high-performance fighter plane that was easy to maintain. It could reach speeds of Mach 2.1 and had a ferry range of 1,715 miles (2,760 km). The aircraft was fitted with General Electric AN/APG-67 radar that offered significant performance improvement over the original Emerson AN/APQ-159 radar of the original F-5E/F.
The F-20 made its first flight on August 30, 1982, and a total of three prototypes were created. It was intended for sale to foreign countries and militaries, but the market for the plane never developed, as President Ronald Reagan relaxed the restrictions on selling fighters such as the F-16 Fighting Falcon to other countries. Also, in 1986, the United States government had not placed an order for the aircraft, but instead use the F-16 as the replacement aircraft for the continental U.S. air defense requirement [1] [2], had a large effect on the decisions of other countries not to buy the F-20. The Pakistan Air Force was offered the F-20 and A-10 Thunderbolt II, but insisted on choosing the F-16 because it was felt that it would give them a technological advantage.
After six years and no buyers, Northrop cancelled the $1.2 billion project. Some felt that the U.S. Air Force was biased against the aircraft due to its unconventional development which reflected poorly on the Air Force's management style in procuring aircraft. [3] Air forces that could afford the F-20 bought the F-16, while ones which could buy neither, purchased the cheaper F-5E/F Tiger II or the Russian MiG-21. While its performance was comparable to the Block 1/5/10 F-16 and superior to the turbojet-powered export-variant F-16/79, the F-20 airframe had virtually no remaining expansion capability, as it was built on essentially a 20 year old airframe at the limits of its capabilities. The F-20's low-set wing and wing-mounted undercarriage also limited the size and number (four underwing hardpoints on the F-20 vs. six on the F-16) of underwing stores that could be used; whereas the F-16 would often be seen with very large stores. The F-16 was a brand-new jet that had not even begun to approach its eventual capabilities.
The last existing F-20 is on display at the California Science Center. The other two prototypes were lost due to crashes during world sales tours. The crashes were caused by pilot error, and were not linked to any malfunction of the planes.
Aerospace legend Chuck Yeager, who worked as a spokesperson for Northrop during the F-20's development, frequently touted the plane and was regularly featured in its advertising.
[edit] Potential Sales
Though the aircraft did not achieve sales, it had a number of evaluations where it was close to being sold. Many potential customers ended up going with the F-16 Fighting Falcon, due to easing of export restrictions making them much more available. One such example is Venezuela, which had been considering the F-20. Taiwan became a similar case, whose bid for licensed production was blocked by the U.S. government for political reasons. Taiwan ended up developing the AIDC F-CK-1 Ching-kuo, and the sale of F-16 was finally approved in 1992. Sweden was yet another sales loss case; the 'F-5S' (an F-20 version for Sweden) was also passed over in favor of developing the JAS 39 Gripen fighter aircraft.[citation needed] Sweden did, however, use the RM12 derivative of the F-20's F404 engine for the Gripen. In 1985 negotiations were under way to supplement the Royal Moroccan Air Force fleet of attack aircraft that were too old or had been shot down. Twenty were to be obtained but the F-20 was cancelled and so were the negotiations. In the 1990s the aircraft was offered to India. [4] The aircraft was also offered to the U.S. for a number of different roles in the same period, all of which came to nothing. Once again the F-16 was chosen to fill many of these roles. [5]
Attempts to market the F-20 to South Korea resulted in a bribery scandal that led to the reprimand and retirement of Thomas V. Jones as chief executive of Northrop in 1989 [6].
[edit] Specifications (F-20)
General characteristics
- Crew: 1 pilot
- Length: 46 ft 6 in (14.2 m)
- Wingspan: 26 ft 8 in (8.1 m)
- Height: 13 ft 10 in (4.2 m)
- Wing area: 186 ft² (17 m²)
- Empty weight: 11,220 lb (5,090 kg)
- Loaded weight: 15,060 lb (6,830 kg)
- Max takeoff weight: 26,290 lb (11,920 kg)
- Powerplant: 1× General Electric F404-GE-100 turbofan, 17,000 lbf (76 kN)
Performance
- Maximum speed: Mach 2.1
- Combat radius: 300 NM (345 mi, 555 km)
- Ferry range: 1,490 NM (1,715 mi, 2,760 km)
- Service ceiling 55,000 ft (16,800 m)
- Rate of climb: 50,030 ft/min (255 m/s)
- Wing loading: 81.0 lb/ft² (395 kg/m²)
- Thrust/weight: 1.13
Armament
- Guns: 2× 20 mm (0.787 in) M39 cannon
- Hardpoints: 5 with a capacity of 8,000 lb (3,600 kg),
- Missiles: 2× AIM-9 Sidewinder air-to-air missiles
[edit] See also
Related development
Comparable aircraft
Related lists
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- California Science Center - F-20 Tigershark exhibit
- F-20A Tigershark Home Page
- National Museum of the United States Air Force
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