Northrop F-5 Tiger II

Updated: October 2026 – Six red-and-white jets sweep across an Alpine ridge in tight formation, smoke trailing behind them, the thunder arriving a second later: that is the Patrouille Suisse, and its aircraft are Northrop F-5E Tiger IIs. The small twinjet from the US has been part of the Swiss Air Force since 1978 and is one of the military jets that spotters in German-speaking countries love most. Following the parliament’s decision, its flying career in Switzerland ends by the end of 2027 at the latest. Here you will learn how to identify the F-5 with confidence, where it comes from and how to make the most of the last Tiger years with your camera.

What is the Northrop F-5?

The F-5 is a light supersonic fighter that Northrop developed in the late 1950s as an alternative to ever larger and more expensive fighters. The idea: a small twin-engine aircraft that is cheap to buy, easy to maintain and can be operated safely even by smaller air forces. The T-38 Talon trainer was developed in parallel from the same basic design.

The N-156F prototype first flew on July 30, 1959. Series production started with the F-5A Freedom Fighter and its two-seat version, the F-5B. The US passed them on to numerous allied countries through military aid programs, and several countries built their own variants, such as Canada, the Netherlands and Spain.

The second generation followed in the early 1970s: the F-5E Tiger II. It received more powerful J85 engines, more fuel, a radar and the distinctive leading-edge root extensions that give it better agility at high angles of attack. The F-5E first flew on August 11, 1972, and the US Air Force took over the first aircraft in April 1973. The two-seat F-5F with a lengthened nose and the RF-5E Tigereye reconnaissance version followed. Besides Northrop itself, Switzerland, South Korea and Taiwan also assembled Tigers under license. Well over 2,000 aircraft were built across all versions.

Northrop is now part of Northrop Grumman and is better known for major projects like the stealth bomber B-2 Spirit. But the F-5 was the company’s export hit and flew with dozens of air forces around the world.

Recognizing the F-5 in the field

On the ground, the F-5 looks almost delicate. If you stand next to a Hornet and a Tiger for the first time, you are surprised how small the Tiger is. Three observations are enough for a positive identification. For an overview of other types, see the article Recognizing fighter jets in Europe.

With the Swiss Air Force, the serial also helps: Swiss military aircraft carry a “J” for jet and a four-digit number. The single-seaters carry numbers in the J-30xx range, the two-seaters J-32xx. The serial on the fuselage tells you which aircraft is in front of you.

Variants at a glance

Variant	Feature	What it means for spotters
F-5A / F-5B	First generation “Freedom Fighter,” narrower wing root	Today mostly in museums and with a few operators
F-5E	Single-seat Tiger II, more powerful engines, leading-edge root extensions	Main variant of Switzerland and the Patrouille Suisse
F-5F	Two-seat Tiger II with longer nose	In small numbers, also in Switzerland
RF-5E Tigereye	Reconnaissance aircraft with a reworked nose for cameras	Rare, with a few export customers
F-5N / F-5F (US Navy)	Upgraded used aircraft as training adversaries	Mostly in camouflage that resembles foreign air forces
F-20 Tigershark	Single-engine development	Prototypes only, no series production

The close relationship to the T-38 Talon causes mix-ups again and again. The T-38 is a pure two-seat trainer without cannons and without launch rails on the wingtips. Its wing root runs smoothly into the fuselage, while the F-5E shows the narrow forward extensions there.

The F-5 in the Swiss Air Force

For Switzerland, the Tiger was long the backbone of air defense. Through the 1975 and 1981 armament programs, the country procured a total of 110 aircraft: 98 single-seat F-5Es and 12 two-seat F-5Fs. The first Tigers entered service in 1978, initially as air policing fighters. Together with the older Hawker Hunter and the Mirage, they shaped the picture in Swiss skies for decades.

With the introduction of the F/A-18 Hornet, the Tiger lost its main role. From the 2000s on, the Air Force gradually reduced the fleet. Many aircraft went to the US: in 2006 the US Navy bought used Swiss Tigers with few flight hours, a further package of 22 aircraft was agreed in 2020, and pickup began in March 2024. Between 2004 and 2008, Austria also leased twelve Swiss F-5Es to bridge the gap until the introduction of the Eurofighter Typhoon.

Lately the Tiger mainly handled secondary duties: target simulation, tow and test flights, and training. This relieved the Hornet fleet and extended its service life. About half of the remaining F-5s are used by the Patrouille Suisse. According to the armed forces, 25 Tigers were still on strength in March 2024, 18 of them in operation.

The road to retirement

As early as the 2022 armed forces dispatch, the Federal Council proposed retiring the F-5 at the end of 2025. Parliament rejected that at the time. In March 2024, the armed forces and Air Force chief Peter Merz announced that they would keep operating the Tiger until the end of 2027 and then retire it. The armed forces cited outdated sensors and weapons, rising costs for materials, repairs and maintenance in the tens of millions per year, and the lack of need for a third fleet alongside the Hornet and the F-35A, which is due to arrive from 2028.

In December 2024, a motion in the Council of States to keep operating the Tigers for the Patrouille Suisse failed. In June 2025, the National Council approved the federal decree on decommissioning, and on September 17, 2025, the Council of States followed, narrowly by 22 votes to 20. For spotters this means: 2026 and 2027 are the last years in which you can experience Swiss F-5s in the air.

Patrouille Suisse: red-and-white Tigers

The Patrouille Suisse was founded on August 22, 1964, and initially flew the Hawker Hunter. After the last Hunter season in 1994, the squadron switched to the F-5E in 1995; its home base is Emmen military airfield. The Tigers wear the well-known red-and-white livery with a Swiss cross on the underside. In the first Tiger season, the team still flew without smoke; smoke systems were added later. The program is flown with six aircraft.

With the end of the F-5, the Patrouille Suisse loses its jets. The Federal Department of Defence examined a cheaper solution with propeller aircraft; the armed forces named the existing PC-7 TEAM with the Pilatus PC-7 from the Swiss manufacturer Pilatus as the obvious option. You can read more about the squadron, its history and its program in the profile of the Patrouille Suisse, and a comparison with other teams in the overview Aerobatic teams of Europe.

The Tiger as a training adversary

Outside Switzerland, many people know the F-5 as an aggressor. Small, agile and with performance similar to the MiG-21, it is ideal for playing the enemy in air combat training. The US Navy even used it at the weapons school known as “Top Gun.” Today, Navy reserve squadrons and the US Marine Corps fly upgraded F-5Ns and F-5Fs, often in camouflage schemes that resemble foreign air forces. Some of them come from Switzerland.

If you are interested in the registrations and origins of such jets, the article US military serials explains the logic behind the serial numbers. How to track military aircraft online and where the limits are is covered in Tracking military aircraft online.

Easily confused: F-5, Hornet and others

Where you can still see the F-5

In Switzerland the odds are clearly distributed: the Patrouille Suisse trains out of Emmen and performs at air shows and events at home and abroad. A highlight for many is the Axalp live fire demonstration in the Bernese Oberland, where military jets fly against a mountain backdrop. Whether the Patrouille Suisse still performs there with the Tiger depends on the decommissioning plan. The Air Force publishes its displays for the current season each year.

Special rules apply at the fence of a military airfield. What is allowed is covered in Photographing military airfields: the rules, and the Swiss particularities are explained in Plane spotting in Switzerland.

Place	Chance of a sighting	Why
Emmen and surroundings	medium	Home base of the Patrouille Suisse, training flights in season
Air days and air shows	high	Announced Patrouille Suisse displays
Axalp live fire demonstration	open	Depends on the program and the decommissioning plan
Museums after 2027	permanent	Retired Tigers could end up in collections – check at the time

If you want to dig deeper into the history of Swiss military aviation, visit the Flieger-Flab-Museum Dübendorf; tips for visiting on site are in the spot Flieger Flab Museum at Dübendorf airfield. Early F-5 versions and many other US military jets are on show at the National Museum of the US Air Force in Dayton.

Photo tips for the Tiger

The F-5 is small and fast. At displays that takes a little preparation, but it rewards you with dynamic pictures.

You will find more technique for displays in the guide Photographing air shows. And if you are looking for a comparison with the neighboring country: Austria itself flew leased Swiss Tigers between 2004 and 2008 – you can read more about the big Austrian military air show in the article on AIRPOWER in Zeltweg.

Conclusion

The F-5 Tiger II is a piece of Swiss aviation history: almost five decades in service, the backbone of air defense, later a workhorse in the background and a stage for the Patrouille Suisse. It is easy to recognize – small, pointed, one tail fin, two nozzles. Seeing it still fly is harder. With flight operations ending by the end of 2027 at the latest, every chance to get the red-and-white Tigers in front of your lens is worth taking.