Making a debut appearance at the Singapore Airshow are a single-seat Northrop F-5TH and two-seat F-5THF fighters from the Royal Thai Air Force (RTAF). The F-5 was once widespread throughout the Asia-Pacific region, including in Singapore itself, but numbers are dwindling. Thailand continues to fly a squadron equipped with the survivors of 40 F-5Es and six F-5Fs acquired in the 1970s. In order to prolong their usefulness and to maintain their combat viability, the aircraft have gone through the Super Tigris upgrade program, and they are expected to serve into the early 2030s.
Thailand acquired 40 F-5Es and six F-5Fs in the late 1970s, of which 12 single-seaters and a pair of two-seaters went through the F-5T/TF Tigris upgrade from 2003. Originally the RTAF planned to upgrade around 30 to equip two squadrons, but one of the units subsequently converted to the Saab Gripen C/D instead.
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