modern fighters makes many countries unable to purchase new fighters. Even in countries like Thailand, although they have certain financial resources to introduce new fighters, the Swedish-made Lion Eagle fighters have been delivered to the Thai Air Force and there are plans to purchase additional aircraft. It is not easy to maintain the size of the air force, so that the F5 fighter jet has been in service for an extended period of time. Thailand still decided to refurbish and upgrade it so that it can be used for another 15 years or so. It is quite helpless because the new aircraft cannot be bought.
Modern fighters are too expensive.
Don’t think it’s cheap to upgrade old fighters. It costs 23 million US dollars to fully upgrade an old F5 fighter in Thailand. The price is not cheap at all. I can’t help but think why not consider buying low cost. Xiaolong? Thailand has not considered it. Unfortunately, the conclusion is that it is cheaper to upgrade. After all, the introduction of a brand-new model, which is still non-American, will spend a lot of money on supporting systems.
delivered
Thailand, choosing to upgrade the F5 fighter may be the most ideal choice. F5 fighters are US-made foreign-aided fighters, which are exported in large quantities. Many countries are still using them. Thailand is one of the first countries to introduce F5. There are currently about 30 F5E/F fighters. The F5 is a light fighter with very good performance, good maneuverability, strong versatility, insufficient range and low ammunition capacity. It doesn’t matter to Thailand. Thailand has long-term use and maintenance experience and many spare parts. , This is a good foundation for upgrading and renovation.
The military expenditure for delivery of another
to Thailand is quite limited. Even if the cost is small, the upgrade plan will still be saved. The number of fighters involved in the F5 upgrade work is small, and it is divided into two parts. One is simple Upgrade, only part of the avionics is upgraded, the cost is relatively cheap, the unit price is only 8.5 million US dollars, the second is that the complete upgrade, called: F5TH, carries out a lot of upgrading work, in addition to the refurbishment of the airframe, the avionics The upgrade is quite large, basically equal to brand new. From the upgraded cockpit, the mechanical instruments have been completely removed and turned into a glass cockpit. The equipment is replaced with an Israeli ELM-2032 pulse Doppler radar and an Israeli DASH IV helmet is installed. Aiming system, and Link-T data link system, etc. The upgrade work related to
F5
is mainly the responsibility of the Thai side. It will not send the fighters abroad for related work. This is a good opportunity for Thai aviation technicians to accumulate experience. Now the project is progressing smoothly. In 2019 At the end of November, another batch of improved F5TH fighters was delivered.
F5
Perhaps the improvement this time is not very large, and the improvement in combat effectiveness is limited. It cannot be compared with the modern fifth-generation aircraft, but Thailand’s requirements are not very high. The main reason is to buy time for the purchase of new aircraft, as long as the time is extended by about 15 years. , Then you can buy enough time for the purchase of next-generation fighters. At the moment when the fifth-generation machine is emerging, it is too difficult to purchase the fifth-generation machine and the cost is also high. If you continue to purchase the fourth-generation machine, it is not in line with the future development. It is better to wait for a while!
