Before 1977, the Tentara Nasional Indonesia-Angkatan Udara (Indonesian Air Force) had been largely equipped with Soviet-bloc aircraft. By that time, relations between Indonesia and the West had begun to improve, and the Indonesian government went shopping in the West for combat aircraft. In 1978, the US offered eight F-5Es to replace the Australian-supplied CA-27 Sabres still in service with the TNI-AU. Eight F-5Es and four F-5Fs were acquired in 1980. The Tigers entered service with No 14 Squadron based at Madiun-Iswahyudi. A follow-on order for four F-5E was placed in August of 1978.
In 1989, the TNI-AU began to take delivery of its first F-16s, and these were based alongside the F-5s. In March 1995, Belgium’s SABCA was awarded a contract to upgrade the Indonesian F-5 fleet so that the planes could act as lead-in fighter trainers for the F-16. The aircraft were refitted with a GEC-Marconi Avionics HUD/WAC and Sky Guardian RWR, a new air data computer, a stores management system, HOTAS controls, and a MIL-STD 155eB databus. The APG-69(V)-3 radar was upgraded to (V)-5 standard.
All Indonesian F-5s have been retired since late 2005, but are in reserve just in case they are needed in the future.
Sources:
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Northrop F-5/F-20, Jerry Scutts, Ian Allan Ltd, 1986.
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F-5: Warplane for the World, Robbie Shaw, Motorbooks, 1990
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Northrop F-5, Jon Lake and Robert Hewson, World Airpower Journal, Vol
25, 1996.
- Northrop F-5, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northrop_F-5#Switzerland
