Reviewing the F-5E/F Tiger II fighter jet is sometimes sad, because in Indonesia the twin engine fighter jet has been retired since April 2016, while in many countries, the older F-5 can continue to operate with a number of upgrades, which not only upgrades on the avionics side, but also includes aspects of weaponry.
After previously there was news that Raytheon was developing PhantomStrike, the AESA (Active Electronically Scanned Array) Low Cost Multi Platform radar, which will be installed on the F-5 Tiger. Now there is news about the installation of advanced sensors that will polish the performance of this old fighter to be even more fierce.
Quoted from Thedrive.com (19/10/2022), Tactical Air Support (TacAir) said it had completed initial flight testing of the Lockheed Martin-designed TacIRST. The TacIRST is an integrated infrared search-and-track, or IRST (infrared search-and-track) sensor built-in to the F-5 Advanced Tiger aggressor fighter jet.
Tactical Air Support is a private contractor supporting the development of the F-5 Aggressor based in Reno, Nevada that has worked for years to further develop the F-5E/F derivative dubbed the F-5AT (Advanced Tiger).
The Tactical Air Support fleet consists of 21 surplus Jordanian second-hand F-5E/Fs which have been heavily modified and refurbished by Northrop Grumman and equipped with customized upgrades to create a “4th generation fighter jet adversary platform but with the economic aspects of a typical fighter jet. 3rd generation".
The latest upgrade to the F-5AT is the TacIRST installation, which TacAir says is a key addition to the F-5AT advanced threat replication system that supports the aggressor fighter jet contract for the US Navy and Air Force.
In general, IRST systems are intended to detect and track aerial objects via infrared emission. This device is a passive sensor, meaning it does not emit radio frequency emissions so the target will not be aware of the fact that they have been detected and are being tracked.
In the US, especially at the Top Gun, US Navy and US Air Force Weapons School, US fighter pilots are groomed to fight the best and most capable adversaries, so that US fighter pilots are the best prepared to win in combat.
With the installation of TacIRST on the F-5 Advanced Tiger aggressor, US fighter pilots will be increasingly challenged in aerial combat training. This is understandable, because IRST is widely available on Russian and Chinese fighter jets.
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