Northrop F-5 RF-5A

The RF-5A is the tactical reconnaissance version of the F-5A Freedom Fighter. The modification is essentially confined to the nose: the forward section carrying the two M39 cannon is replaced by one fitted with four cameras, keeping the rest of the airframe, the powerplant and the fighter's external stores stations. That interchangeability was one of the family's most exploited design ideas, to the point that Canada ordered 50 interchangeable reconnaissance noses so its CF-5As could be converted into reconnaissance platforms and returned to the fighter role afterwards.

Northrop built 86 RF-5As alongside the 624 F-5As and 200 F-5Bs. The captured material contains an internal discrepancy worth recording here: the English encyclopaedia's variants section states that approximately 120 RF-5As were built, while its development section gives 86 built by Northrop. The reasonable reading is that the larger figure includes conversions and licence production, but the material does not say so and the point is therefore left open.

Norway received its own sub-variant, the RF-5A (G). Spain was a notable user: Escuadrón 204 received RF-5A airframes and the unit became Ala 21 in 1971. The surviving Spanish single-seaters, F-5A and RF-5A alike, were transferred in 1995 to Ala 23 at Talavera la Real together with some retired airframes used as a source of spares. The Spanish designation for the reconnaissance aircraft was AR-9. In Thailand the RF-5A carried the local designation B.TKh.18.

CASA built the SRF-5A reconnaissance variant under licence in Spain, equivalent to the RF-5A, within the 70-aircraft contract signed after the type was chosen on 11 January 1965. The French source records the local designation CR-9 for this Spanish family.

The interchangeable reconnaissance nose outlived the first generation: the RF-5E Tigereye repeated the approach on the F-5E Tiger II airframe, displacing the radar and one cannon to house the sensor package, while Singapore and Taiwan converted in-service airframes to reconnaissance standards (RF-5S Tigereye and RF-5E Tigergazer respectively). The RF-5A is, in that sense, the origin of a light tactical reconnaissance line that stayed in service for more than half a century.