NORTHROP GRUMMAN has begun test flights of its F-5E Tiger IV advanced-avionics demonstrator aircraft at Edwards AFB, California.
The aircraft made the short hop from Los Angeles International Airport on 20 April after being refurbished at the company's adjacent El Segundo plant with new avionics and some discrete structural improvements. More than 30 flight tests are expected to be made, before the end of October.
"Following the initial validation phase, the F-5 will be flown to Kelly AFB, Texas, for further evaluation by pilots from the US Air Force and other user countries," says the company.
The F-5E is on loan to Northrop Grumman from the USAF under a pioneering co-operative research-and-development agreement (CRDA) with the USAF's F-5 global-support organisation at the San Antonio Air Logistics Center in Texas.
Under the agreement, Northrop Grumman and its industry team get free use of the airframe (on loan to the USAF from the US Navy), in return for test results which will aid in future US upgrade decisions.
Northrop Grumman hopes that the CRDA will stimulate the slow-moving international F-5 upgrade market. Almost 1,600 F-5s are still operational in 26 countries, of which several are either actively engaged in, or considering, some form of upgrade.
Northrop Grumman has delivered the first F-18E/F centre/aft fuselage to McDonnell Douglas in St Louis, Missouri. The first completed F-18E/F is due to be rolled out in September, with a first flight in December. Northrop Grumman has built around 40% of each F-18 since the programme began in 1976.
Source: Flight International
