F-20 Tigershark
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| F-20 Tigershark | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Type | Fighter |
| Manufacturer | Northrop |
| Maiden flight | 1982-08-30 |
| Number built | 3 |
| Developed from | F-5 Freedom Fighter |
The F-20 Tigershark (initially F-5G) was a privately financed fighter aircraft, designed and built by Northrop in the USA, starting in 1975. It was a further evolution of Northrop's F-5 Freedom Fighter, although ultimately it shared little more than a strong family resemblance to that aircraft. It was originally designated F-5G, which was approved by the USAF in May 1981. The USAF gave approval for F-20 designation use in November 1982 and of the extra name Tigershark in March 1983. 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 main 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 (2760 km). The aircraft was armed with General Electric AN/APG-67 radar that offered significant performance improvement over the original Emerson AN/APQ-159 and AN/APG-69 radars of the original F-5.
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, the fact that the United States government had not placed an order for the aircraft had a large effect on the decisions of other countries to buy the F-20 or not. The Pakistan Air Force was offered the F-20 and A-10 Thunderbolt II, but insisted on choosing the F-16 because it would give them a technological advantage. Currently Pakistan is involved in the development of a very similar aircraft to the Tigershark,the JF-17. In 1986 China signed a US$550 million agreement with Grumman to modernise its J-7. The project was cancelled in early 1990 and restarted in the form of the JF-17 thunder project. It is alleged that Grumman used the F-20 plan as a final target for the upgrading the F-7.
After six years and no major buyers, Northrop cancelled the $1.2 billion project. 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; the F-16 later would often be seen with very large stores. The F-16, on the other hand, was a brand-new jet that had not even begun to approach its eventual capabilities. There was speculation within the F-20 development team that the US Air Force influenced foreign militaries to buy the F-16, in order to make spare parts more available.
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.
Contents |
[edit] Naming History
[edit] Quotes
- "The F-20 impressed everybody but the people it was supposed to."
- "High-performance jet fighter, fully armed with missiles, guns. ECM equipment, fresh paint (stars and bars painted over) ... used only for testing and sales promotion. Now in storage.
- Contact Northrop Corp.
- Will trade for Mig-25 and home address of Air Force Acquisition officer."
- Ad found in "Pacific Flyer" magazine, shortly after the F-20 program was cancelled.
- "On the other hand, being a design nearer the limit of its growth potential, would have been an advantage with respect to avoidance of the inevitable, and continuous weight growth that has degraded the F-16's manoeuvring aerodynamic performance." MGC
[edit] Specifications (F-20)
Image:Two F-20 Tigersharks low pass.jpg
General characteristics<h3>
- Crew: one 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)
<h3>Performance<h3>
- Maximum speed: Mach 2.1
- Range: 345 mi combat; 1,715 mi ferry (555 km / 2,760 km)
- Service ceiling: 55,000 ft (16,800 m)
- Rate of climb: 50,030 ft/min (255 m/s)
- Thrust/weight: 1.13
<h3>Armament<h3>
- 2× 20 mm M39 cannons
- 2× AIM-9 Sidewinder air-to-air missiles
- 8,000 lb (3,600 kg) of weapons, on five external hardpoints
[edit] External links
[edit] Related content
Related development<h3>
<h3>Comparable aircraft<h3> <h3>Designation sequence<h3> (as F-5G in 1981) F-2 - F-3 - F-4 - F-5G - F-6 - F-7 - F-8(as F-20 for post-1982) F-16 - YF-17 - F/A-18 - F-20 Tigershark - F-21 - F-22 - YF-23 <h3>Related lists<h3>
fr:Northrop F-20 Tigershark it:Northrop F-20 Tigershark ja:F-20 (戦闘機) pl:Northrop F-20 Tigershark sv:Northrop F-20 Tigershark zh:F-20虎鲨战斗机
