Aircrafttotal Encyclopedia


F-20 prototype 82-0062
Role	Fighter aircraft
National origin	United States
Manufacturer	Northrop Corporation
First flight	30 August 1982
Status	Canceled
Number built	3
Developed from	Northrop F-5

The Northrop F-20 Tigershark (initially F-5G) is a light fighter, designed and built by Northrop. Its development began in 1975 as a further evolution of Northrop's F-5E Tiger II, featuring a new engine that greatly improved overall performance, and a modern avionics suite including a powerful and flexible radar. Compared with the F-5E, the F-20 was much faster, gained beyond-visual-range air-to-air capability, and had a full suite of air-to-ground modes capable of utilizing most U.S. weapons. With these improved capabilities, the F-20 became competitive with contemporary fighter designs such as the General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falconbut was much less expensive to purchase and operate.

The primary design change between the earlier F-5E and the F-20 was the use of a single General Electric F404 engine, which was originally designed for the F/A-18 Hornet. The new engine provided 60% more thrust than the combined output of the F-5E's two General Electric J85s. This improved the aircraft's thrust-to-weight ratio from 1.0 to 1.13. The new engine gave a speed of over Mach 2.0, a ceiling over 55,000 ft (16,800 m), an initial climb rate of 52,800 ft per minute (16,100m/min)

Development

Operational history

On 30 August 1982, the original engine-change-only F-5G (serial 82-0062, c/n GG1001, registered N4416T) made its maiden flight piloted by Russ Scott. During the 40-minute flight, the prototype climbed to 40,000 ft (12,000 m) and reached Mach 1.04. GG1001 demonstrated outstanding reliability; by the end of April 1983 240 flights had been accumulated, including evaluation flights with 10 potential customer nations. The second prototype (serial number 82-0063, registered N3986B, c/n GI1001), featuring the complete avionics suite, made its first flight on 26 August 1983. The F-20 flew 1,500 flights prior to its termination; although these were exclusively flown in ideal conditions. According to the Rand Corporation, "Northrop did not take a prototype approach with the F-20... The first F-20 was intended to be a production quality aircraft.

Northrop Corporation

Northrop Corporation
Northrop F-20 Tigershark

General Info

Crew: 1 Length: 47 ft 4 in (14.43 m) Wingspan: 27 ft 11.875 in (8.53123 m) with wing-tip missiles 26 ft 8 in (8.13 m) clean Height: 13 ft 10.25 in (4.2228 m)

Powerplant

- Empty weight: (5,357 kg)
- Gross weight: (7,264 kg)
  Combat TOW - 50% fuel 2x AIM-9
- Max takeoff weight: (12,474 kg)
- Fuel capacity: (2,291 kg) in integral and bladder tanks
- Powerplant: 1 × General Electric F404-GE-100 afterburning turbofan engine, 11,000 lbf (49 kN) thrust dry,

Performance

Maximum speed: 1,147 kn (1,320 mph, 2,124 km/h)
Maximum speed: Mach 2
Range: 320 nmi (370 mi, 590 km) in air superiority mission with 2 × AIM-9 and 5 minutes air combat

150 nmi (170 mi; 280 km) in
close air support with 2 × AIM-9 + 7 × Mk 82s + 2 × 330 US gal (270 imp gal; 1,200 L) drop tanks

Service ceiling: 56,800 ft (17,300 m)

Armament

Guns: 2 × 20 mm (0.79 in) Pontiac M39A2 cannons in the nose, 280 rounds each and a General Electric 30 mm gun pod which can be mounted on the fuselage
Hardpoints: 7 external hardpoints with a capacity of 8,000 lb (3,600 kg)

Special Links Northrop F-20 Tigershark

Links to Youtube & Others

The F-20 would also make greater usage of composite materials in its construction. During its development, several areas using metal were re-designed to use fiberglass, and there were numerous upgrades to various mechanical parts.

Northrop
F-20 Tigershark

As the Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 became more common, the U.S. Air Force initiated the International Fighter Aircraft (IFA) program to provide an equivalent to allies.

Youtube Link

The future of the FX program seemed doubtful. Following an agreement to sell F-16s to Pakistan.

Northrop
F-20A Tigershark
First flight 30 August 1982