Syark Air Forces (SAF) - 1/48 AFV TUDM F-5E Tiger II M29-12 ,Skuadron 12 & Skuadron 11, PU Butterworth

1/48 AFV TUDM F-5E Tiger II Skuadron 12 dan Skuadron 19, PU Butterworth 

Modeler : Majorbee Wan Hashim

This is my country fighter aircraft that I collected for this year. The Fighter Aircraft F-5E Tiger II are the first Supersonic Fighter that has been serviced in TUDM in order to replaced F86 Sabre given free from RAAF during Confrontation with Indonesia around era 1960. This tiger has ordered 16 nos. to build up the TUDM strength during 1975 after US loss in Vietnam War. In ASEAN on that time, Veitnam already has Mig 17 that has power to control air space. Due to that risk, US supply a lot of F-5E to his alliance including Malaysia

Following the resounding success of the F-5A Freedom Fighter, the USAF issued a request in 1970 for a new light fighter aircraft that could both be exported to America's allies (Under the Mutual Assistance Plan, or MAP) or put on the international market. Northrop decided to repeat the feat of the F-5A a second time, and offered up a brand-new variant, the F-5E Tiger II. Named to honour the well-known Skoshi Tiger Unit that was formed solely to test out the F-5A during the Vietnam War, the F-5E Tiger II, just like its predecessor, instantly became an enormous hit on the export market. For a price of about two million dollars US (Today), a country could equip its air force with a light, modern single-seat fighter. The tactical RF-5E Tigereye and the F-5F Tiger II also soon hit the market, seeing success with a number of Asian, Middle-Eastern and European countries.

The most intriguing of the F-5E's standard armament is the dual M39A2 cannon arrangement, with 280 rounds available per gun. The Pontiac M39A2 is an improvement of the previous M39, but uses the same 20mm shells as its predecessor. The two sidewinders allow the F-5E to defend itself against air targets at short ranges, while the previous F-5A would have had to rely on its cannons and rockets. 3175 Kg of ordnance can be stored on the F-5E's pylons, from Snakeye bombs, to 1,040 litre drop tanks, to cluster bomb or rocket launchers. The ultimate AGM, (Air-to-Ground-Missile), and armament, available to the F-5E is the AGM-65 Maverick missile. Although this requires the aircraft to be prepared, it gives the F-5E a tremendous tank destroying capability. The AGM-65 is far more accurate than rockets or bombs, and far more powerful than most guns.