F20 Tigershark

[Red Tail 444]

Does anyone recall the F20 Tigershark? if not, it was the "Mig" in Topgun.

I had a photo of it back in the 90's when I was in college,m but I cant remember what happened to it and why it was never put into full production.

Always looked like a sweet ride to me...anyway, any input would be helpful...just curious.

[Sikboy]

If I recall, it was a further development of the F-5 family of planes (which were the agressors in Top Gun).

As far as I can tell, there just wasn't any mission for the F-20. I don't remember why it didn't excell as an export fighter, but I thought there was some contraversy.

I once did some translation work for one of the Program pilots who was going over to Russia to get himself a Russian bride lol.

-Sik

[J_A_B]

The Topgun "migs" were F-5's,which are the predecessor of the F-20.  The F-5 is a lightweight twin-engine fighter.

There were only a few F-20's ever made.  The F-20 was an updated model of the F-5 with a single engine (the same type of engine that the F-15 and F-16 have) and better electronics.  Chuck Yeager was a well-known proponent of the F-20; he liked it because of its superb maneuverability and pointability in A2A combat.   The USAF stuck with the F-16 instead.


Edit:  MY bad....it shared the same powerplant as the F-18

J_A_B

[Guppy35]

Monogram made a 1/48th Scale model of the F20 way back when.  Not a bad kit at all.

It showed up in commercials with Yeager after it was turned down by the AF.  I think it was a company funded program too.

Dan/Slack

[GScholz]

The F-20 had the same engine as the F-18, not the F-15/16. Yes it was a company funded program like the F-5 was. The F-20 program sank Northrop in the military aircraft market.

[DiabloTX]

Originally posted by GScholz
The F-20 had the same engine as the F-18, not the F-15/16. Yes it was a company funded program like the F-5 was. The F-20 program sank Northrop in the military aircraft market.

So why did the genius's at Northrup even develop the F-20 if there was no clear objective or payoff for all the work invested?  Pretty stupid if you ask me.  But you didn't so who really cares.

[Mathman]

Originally posted by DiabloTX
So why did the genius's at Northrup even develop the F-20 if there was no clear objective or payoff for all the work invested?  Pretty stupid if you ask me.  But you didn't so who really cares.

IIRC, the F-20 was primarily designed for the export market to compete with the F-16.  Depending on what you believe, it was better in almost all respects to the F-16, but GD and the US government kind of did a Microsoft and forced friendly nations to buy the F-16 instead.

I don't know if that is true or not, but you never know.  Not a big deal to me if it is or not.  Kind of fits the mold though.

[Tony Williams]

When it was first planned the F-20 was known as the F-5G and was intended to incorporate the minimum changes needed to accept the new engine, so that older F-5 could be converted. By the time development was complete, there were so many changes that this was no longer possible. So bang went one possible market.

The F-20 was then in direct competition with the F-16, but the F-16 had the overwhelming advantage of having been bought by the US Government, so everyone wanted that instead. No-one wanted the risk of being the launch customer for a new aircraft like the F-20.

Pity really, it would have introduced an interesting new gun, the 'Tigerclaws', developed from the M39 to be much lighter and faster-firing.

Tony Williams: Military gun and ammunition website and Discussion forum

[SFRT - Frenchy]

There's one sitting on the ramp at torance's airport, Los Angeles. (Or used to 2 years ago, I doubt they moved it).

[gripen]

IIRC Northrop actually designed the YF-17 to compete with the F-16. Later  McDonnell Douglas joined project (and actually took it all over) and the result was the F-18. The F-20 was Northrops's private venture project aimed for export market to replace huge number of F-5s serving around the world. AFAIK USAF never planned to buy it; at the time F-20 prototype flew, the F-16 was allready chossen for the USAF.

gripen

[DREDIOCK]

Originally posted by Tony Williams

The F-20 was then in direct competition with the F-16, but the F-16 had the overwhelming advantage of having been bought by the US Government, so everyone wanted that instead. No-one wanted the risk of being the launch customer for a new aircraft like the F-20.

Pity really, it would have introduced an interesting new gun, the 'Tigerclaws', developed from the M39 to be much lighter and faster-firing.

Tony Williams: Military gun and ammunition website and Discussion forum

This is what I remember reading about it at the time. Was like 20 something years ago wasnt it?

I remember Yeager being quoted as saying he liked it better then the F-16 saying about it.
"The F-20 is the most advanced fighter I ever flew"
Another plus I remember reading about it at the time was it was easier to maintain then the F-16 and could scramble and get airborn faster. That is go from hanger to in the air in it was something like half the tie of the F-16.
For whatever reason the military decided on the F-16 instead. which was plagued with wiring problems and even grounded for a while in its frst few years in service.
least thats what I remember.

If nothing else it was one sharp looking aircraft

[Bodhi]

Originally posted by GScholz
The F-20 had the same engine as the F-18, not the F-15/16. Yes it was a company funded program like the F-5 was. The F-20 program sank Northrop in the military aircraft market.

lol sunk Northrop?  lmfao

Guess you forgot this little gem that earns them a little over 1 billion a copy....  




Unit cost: Approximately $1.157 billion (fiscal 98 constant dollars) so figure about 1.5 billion now.

[GScholz]

That is not a Northrop ... that's a Northrop Grumman. The F-20 nearly bankrupted Northrop, and they were forced to merge with Grumman to survive. At least that's what I read about the development of the F-20 some years ago.

[Bodhi]

Originally posted by GScholz
That is not a Northrop ... that's a Northrop Grumman. The F-20 nearly bankrupted Northrop, and they were forced to merge with Grumman to survive. At least that's what I read about the development of the F-20 some years ago.

The B-2 was on the drawing boards and in preproduction long before the merger.  I followed the merger talks with great anticipation as I own a fair amount of Northrop-Grumman stock, that was all Grumman before the merger.

Ohh the B-2 first deployed in late '93 btw and the companies merged in late 94.

edited for spelling

[Red Tail 444]

Originally posted by DREDIOCK


If nothing else it was one sharp looking aircraft

Sure was...thanks for the replies everyone