F-5N/F Tiger II
The Northrop F-5 Tiger II continues
to serve naval aviation in the
adversary training role. The eet
includes 30 upgraded single-seat
F-5Ns and a pair of two-seat F-5Fs
that are operated by two Naval
Reserve squadrons. The US Navy
completed the acquisition of 44
Tiger IIs from the Swiss government
in a reverse Foreign Military Sales
program that began in 2000.
The nal upgraded aircraft was
delivered to Northrop Grumman at
its St Augustine, Florida, facility in
April 2009.
Under the navy’s F-5 acquisition/
recapitalization program, Northrop
Grumman upgraded 43 F-5Es to
F-5N con guration and converted
three of the single-seat Swiss aircraft
into two-seaters by replacing
the F-5E forward fuselage with arefurbished US Navy F-5F forward
fuselage.
First own in August 1972, the
F-5E was developed from the
earlier F-5A Freedom Fighter. The
US Navy has operated the Tiger II
as an aggressor aircraft since the
mid-1970s when it received several
F-5Es that had been destined for
the Republic of Vietnam. The Tiger
IIs initially replaced T-38As assigned
to the Navy Fighter Weapon School
at NAS Miramar, California, in 1975
but by the mid-1980s the F-5s were
largely supplanted by Lockheed
Martin F-16Ns at TOPGUN and
ghter squadrons VF-43, VF-45
and VF-126. The F-16’s career as an
aggressor, however, ended early as a
result of fatigue issues in 1998, and
the navy reverted to using the Tiger
II in the adversary role.
Squadron Location Aircraft Command Tail code
VFC-13 ‘Saints’ NAS Fallon, Nevada F-5F/N CTSW AF
VFC-111 ‘Sundowners’ NAS Key West, Florida F-5F/N CTSW AFAn F-5N of VFC-13 ‘Fighting Saints’. Jamie HunterF-16A/B Fighting Falcon
The US Navy acquired a eet of
22 single-seat F-16Ns and four
two-seat TF-16Ns for use in the
adversary role. The aircraft, which
were based on the USAF’s Block 30
F-16C version, arrived from 1988.
The discovery of fatigue issues
caused the ghters to be retired
after just 10 years of service.
The service later acquired 10
late-model Block 15 F-16As
and four F-16Bs that had been
destined for the Pakistan Air
Force. Delivery of 28 F-16A/Bs,which are powered by Pratt &
Whitney F100-PW-220 turbofan
engines, was embargoed and the
aircraft were placed in storage
at Davis-Monthan, Arizona, in- Following their removal
from storage in 2002 the 28 F-16s
were evenly divided between the
USAF and the navy. Beginning in
2003, the aircraft were delivered
to the Naval Strike Air Warfare
Center (NSAWC), now the Naval
Air Warfare Development Center
(NAWDC), at NAS Fallon, Nevada.
Squadron Location Aircraft Command Tail code
NAWDC NAS Fallon, Nevada F-16A/B CNAF/CNAFPAn F-16B operated by NAWDC at NAS Fallon. Jamie HunterF/A-18A/B/C/D Hornet
Replacement of the ‘legacy’
Hornet within the operational
eet is nearing completion.
The deployable squadrons will
begin their transition to the
F/A-18E later this year and be
completed in 2019. The Hornet
was originally developed
by McDonnell Douglas and
Northrop as a multi-role
ghter-attack aircraft. More than
600 single-seat F/A-18A and
two-seat F/A-18B models were
delivered before the F/A-18C/D
entered production in 1987. In
October 1989, the rst aircraft
with a night attack capability
were delivered.
As of December 2017, the
naval aviation inventory of 548
‘legacy’ Hornets included 36
F/A-18As, four F/A-18Bs, 186
F/A-18Cs and 31 F/A-18Ds in
service with US Navy squadrons.
Additionally, two NFA-18Cs
and two NF/A-18Ds that have
been permanently modi ed for
test duties are in service with
VX-23 at NAS Patuxent River,
Maryland. Just two Atlantic
Fleet squadrons operate the
F/A-18C version but the aircraft
are also used by the FRS at
NAS Oceana.
VFA-34 completed the US
Navy’s nal scheduled F/A-18C
deployment when it returned
to NAS Oceana, Virginia, on
April 11, 2018. The three-month
deployment with carrier air wing
CVW-2 was conducted aboard
the USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70).
By 2020 the service plans tostrike 136 F/A-18A, B, C and
D variants from its inventory.
Planned actions in FY 2019
will see the F/A-18As operated
by the reserve component
in the adversary and training
roles replaced by F/A-18B/
Cs transferred from the active
component. Conversion of
reserve squadron VFA-204 at
NAS New Orleans JRB is already
under way and the ‘River Rattlers’
received several F/A-18Cs in
early March 2018. Hornets will
continue to be own by the
reserve force until 2034.
Although the US Navy Flight
Demonstration Squadron, the
Blue Angels, also operates the
F/A-18C, Boeing is conducting
the engineering e orts
associated with the conversion
of Super Hornets for the team
under the terms of a contract it
received in July 2016.
Boeing is upgrading 40
F/A-18Cs to C+ con guration
that provides Link 16, color
cockpit displays, a moving
map display, AN/ALE-47
countermeasures, the Naval
Aircrew Common Ejection
Seat (NACES) and the Joint
Helmet-Mounted Cueing System
(JHMCS). Those aircraft will be
issued to marine units. Up to 150
F/A-18Cs are receiving a service
life extension program (SLEP)
that will allow the airframes to
attain 10,000 ight hours. The
‘legacy’ Hornet will continue to
be own by naval reserve units
until 2034.US NAVY & MARINE CORPS AIR POWER YEARBOOK 2018
US NAVY AIR POWER 2018^7366-85 US Navy Review C.indd 73 01/06/2018 10:11