Can the Aggressors Continue to Be Effective in the F-5e?

The Aggressors were established with the mission to provide realistic, enemy oriented, dissimilar air combat tactics training for United States Air Force fighter units. They accomplished this mission since 1973 with first the Northrop T-38 and now the Northrop F-5E. The F-5E is an acceptable simulator of the Soviet built MIG-21 Fishbed which was originally produced in the early 1960's. This is 1984 and the Russian air combat threat has changed into a more sophisticated fighter force. This study examined the capability of the F-5E to simulate modern Soviet air combat fighters, specifically, the MIG-23 Flogger, MIG-31 Foxhound, MIG-29 Fulcrum, and SU-27 Flanker. The investigation revealed that the F-5E is not an acceptable simulator for any of these aircraft. The upgraded F-5E with an improved radar, proved to be able to serve a part-task simulator for only the MIG-23 Flogger.