Northrop F-5E Tiger III

The Chilean Air Force (FACh) received its first supersonic fighters on 25 July 1976, when four F-5E Tiger IIs of the Peace Llama project landed at Cerro Moreno air base in Antofagasta. The contract, amended in December 1974, covered 15 single-seat F-5Es and three two-seat F-5Fs, 18 factory-new aircraft assigned to Grupo de Aviación No. 7. Two decades later, instead of replacing them, the FACh chose to transform them. The result is the F-5E Tigre III (Tiger III), the Chilean designation for the upgraded single-seaters, sometimes called Tigre III Plus; the upgraded two-seaters are the F-5F Tiger III.

In the early 1990s a joint venture of Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI), the Empresa Nacional de Aeronáutica de Chile (Enaer) and its subsidiary DTS (Desarrollo de Tecnologías y Sistemas) launched the upgrade, which IAI called the F-5 Plus. The plan was to convert one single-seater and one two-seater in Israel as prototypes and to carry out the remaining conversions at Enaer, giving Chilean industry access to new technologies that the FACh could apply to its own needs. The single-seat prototype flew on 8 July 1992 and was shown by IAI at the 1993 Paris Air Show. Both prototypes were officially handed over to the FACh on 15 December 1993 at El Bosque air base.

The core of the upgrade was the Elta EL/M-2032 radar, which replaced the original AN/APQ-159 and provided fire control for Rafael's Python family of air-to-air missiles, in their III and IV versions. Those missiles are used together with Elbit Systems' DASH (Display and Sight Helmet), which lets the pilot designate targets by head movement. DTS installed its EWPS-100 integrated electronic warfare suite, made up of a radar warning receiver, flare and chaff dispensers and an electronic jamming system; the Spanish-language Wikipedia identifies its components as the DM/A-104 and DM/A-106 (radar warning), DM/A-202 (dispensers) and DM/A-401 (countermeasures). The gun armament was retained: the F-5E Tiger III keeps two 20 mm Pontiac M39A-2 cannon with 280 rounds each.

In 1996 Tiger Century Aircraft was selected to supply, together with Enaer, a structural modification kit giving the aircraft probe-and-drogue in-flight refuelling. With it the Tiger IIIs can take fuel from the Lockheed Martin KC-130R Hercules of Grupo de Aviación No. 10, a significant gain for a fighter with about 2563 litres of internal fuel, extendable with up to three 1040-litre external tanks. The Spanish-language Wikipedia data table for the F-5E Tiger III gives two General Electric J85-GE-21B turbojets of 22.2 kN with afterburner, a maximum take-off weight of 11,214 kg and a maximum speed of 1875 km/h (Mach 1.7).

Its beyond-visual-range armament is unclear in the sources. The Spanish-language Wikipedia credits the Tigre III Plus with Rafael's Derby missile and the Dash III helmet, but defensa.com noted in September 2026 that the FACh had never confirmed the Derby or the Python V in public statements or inventories, and that what was clearly on record was the Python IV. At the 15 September 2026 ceremony marking the aircraft's half-century, the official announcer stated that the Tigers were armed with Israeli "fifth-generation" missiles, without naming the type.

The new capabilities were tested between 12 and 14 January 1998 in mission Manu Tama'i ("war birds" in Rapa Nui), the first flight of FACh fighters to Easter Island: two F-5Es and two F-5F Tiger IIIs covered almost 4000 km in five hours and 42 minutes, refuelled by the Boeing KC-707 Águila of Grupo de Aviación No. 10. That mission prepared the way for Red Flag: from 27 July to 8 August 1998 six F-5E Tiger IIIs faced combat aircraft from Belgium, the Netherlands and the United States at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, supported by the KC-707 and a C-130.

The Tiger IIIs have taken part in the 2004, 2009, 2014, 2022 and 2026 editions of the FACh's Salitre exercise and in the fourth Cruzex, organised by the Brazilian Air Force at Natal in November 2008. In March 2010 they left Antofagasta for Grupo de Aviación No. 12 of the IV Air Brigade at Chabunco air base, Punta Arenas, where their mission is offensive and defensive counter-air operations in the southern theatre. From 13 to 18 March 2013 three F-5Es and one F-5F Tiger III flew more than 2000 km from Chabunco to Montevideo for the centenary of Uruguayan aviation, supported by a KC-135E Stratotanker and a C-130H Hercules. That same month the Uruguayan Air Force opened talks to buy 12 surplus Tiger IIIs from Chile for 80 million dollars, but the aircraft stayed with the FACh.

In 2015 Kellstrom Defense and Enaer signed a contract to reskin the wings, work carried out in Chile since 2016 which, according to the Spanish-language Wikipedia, extended service life by at least ten years; DTS holds the avionics maintenance contract, projected beyond 2030. The fleet has shrunk: the French-language Wikipedia puts the operational aircraft at nine F-5Es and two F-5Fs in 2019, and the English-language one at 13 aircraft in service in 2024. In March 2026 Defence Minister Fernando Barros acknowledged the need to replace them in the short or medium term, and the FACh commander-in-chief, General Hugo Rodríguez, spoke of keeping them for an "assisted retirement" in good condition over a horizon of ten years. On 26 July 2026 the FACh marked half a century since the arrival of its first Tigers.