Northrop F-5 RF-5E Tigereye

The RF-5E Tigereye repeats on the Tiger II airframe the idea that had worked with the RF-5A: take a fighter already in production and swap the nose for an interchangeable sensor set. Execution was harder than in the first generation, because the F-5E carried radar as standard and the nose volume was already committed. Northrop's answer was to displace the radar and delete one of the two 20 mm M39 cannon, leaving a single gun and freeing space for cameras and sensors.

Northrop built twelve new-build RF-5Es. Saudi Arabia was the main export customer and Malaysia received two aircraft in 1983, joining the F-5Es, F-5Fs and F-5Bs already in Royal Malaysian Air Force service.

The Tigereye story does not end with Northrop production. The Republic of Singapore Air Force had Singapore Aircraft Industries convert eight F-5Es to reconnaissance standard between 1990 and 1991; the aircraft, designated RF-5E Tigereye and later RF-5S after the fleet upgrade, entered service with No. 141 "Merlin" Squadron at Paya Lebar Air Base in 1992. Singapore later modernised its whole fleet with the Grifo-F radar, a glass cockpit and the ability to carry AIM-120 AMRAAM and Rafael Python missiles, a package its reconnaissance aircraft shared.

Taiwan followed a parallel path: the Republic of China Air Force converted seven F-5Es to reconnaissance configuration with help from Singapore Technologies Aerospace, under the local designation RF-5E Tigergazer. Together with the F-5Fs they were the last Taiwanese F-5s to fly, retiring in July 2025, eighteen months after the fighter F-5Es left service in November 2023.

Light tactical reconnaissance based on a low-cost fighter was one of the F-5 family's most durable contributions. From the RF-5A's four-camera nose and the 50 interchangeable noses Canada ordered for its CF-5As, to the Singaporean and Taiwanese Tigereye conversions, the approach let medium-sized air forces keep a reconnaissance capability without buying a dedicated platform. With modern reconnaissance pods and unmanned aircraft the role eventually disappeared, and the Taiwanese Tigergazer was probably the last operational representative of the line.