Northrop F-5 RF-5A

The RF-5A is the tactical reconnaissance version of the F-5A Freedom Fighter. Northrop gave it the project number N-156C and conceived it as a change confined to the nose: the rest of the airframe, the two General Electric J85 turbojets and the external stores stations were those of the single-seat fighter. According to the IIAF Association, the aircraft was ordered in October 1967 and made its first flight in May 1968; Skytamer also gives May 1968 as the first-flight date.

Contrary to what is sometimes assumed, the RF-5A did not give up its gun armament. The sources agree that both 20 mm Ford M39 cannons (with 280 rounds per gun, according to Skytamer) were retained even with the cameras fitted, so the aircraft kept some combat capability alongside its reconnaissance mission.

The distinguishing feature is the forward section, arranged to hold four KS-92 cameras: one facing forward, two for lateral oblique shots and one vertical. Each KS-92 had its own light sensor with automatic exposure and a 100-foot (about 30 m) film magazine. Together they gave forward oblique, trimetrogon and split vertical coverage, and the use of different lenses allowed six basic camera configurations. All four cameras could be removed, reloaded and replaced within five minutes; they were reached through the upper surface of the nose, which hinged forward.

Externally, the RF-5A could be told apart from the fighter by the somewhat angular cut-outs of the camera ports in the nose. In theory the nose could be swapped for the standard F-5A nose, but the IIAF Association notes that in the field the operation took too long to be practical.

The English-language encyclopedia and Skytamer state that Northrop built 86 RF-5As, alongside 624 F-5As and 200 F-5Bs. Other sources give different figures: Alex Stoll writes of 85 aircraft, all for export customers, and the IIAF Association mentions 89. The material does not settle the difference, so the figure of 86 is given here as the manufacturer's total without discarding the others.

The reconnaissance variants built or adapted for Norway (RF-5A(G)) and Spain (SRF-5A, licence-built by CASA and designated AR-9) have their own pages and their own figures. Nor should the RF-5A be confused with the RF-5E Tigereye, a much later derivative of the F-5E.

Iran was, according to the IIAF Association, the first customer, with an order for 12 aircraft; the serial numbers of its RF-5A-35-NO aircraft run from 67-21219 to 67-21231. The English-language encyclopedia adds that, within deliveries that ended in 1976, Iran received 15 additional RF-5As. Alex Stoll lists Turkey, Greece, Iran, Thailand and South Korea among the recipients of the reconnaissance version.

In Greece, the Hellenic Air Force's F-5 fleet included 34 RF-5As out of a total of about 120 aircraft of the family. South Korea received 8 RF-5As; during the Vietnam War it transferred 8 RF-5As to the Republic of Vietnam Air Force, and 5 were brought back to Korea before the war ended. In all, the South Vietnamese air force came to operate 10 RF-5As. In Thailand the type received the local designation B.TKh.18, and Skytamer puts the Thai aircraft at 4.

Morocco received two RF-5As from the United States between 1966 and 1974. In the Western Sahara War, around 1981, its RF-5As and F-5Bs were fitted with AN/ALR-66 radar warning receivers to counter the SA-6 threat and were grouped into a newly established reconnaissance unit, the Erige squadron, one of whose main tasks was to track the Polisario Front's surface-to-air missile systems.

Several RF-5As survive in museums: 69-7170 at the Hellenic Air Force Museum and 97147 (5-147) at the Istanbul Aviation Museum, according to the list of displayed aircraft compiled by Skytamer.