According to a press release from the Bloomberg agency, the 2020 United States Defense budget would provide a budget line of $39,7 million to purchase 22 F5 light fighters from the Swiss armed forces to equip the US Navy's Fighter Weapon School, better known as Top Gun. The Swiss forces use 3 squadrons equipped with Northrop's F5 light fighter, i.e. 21 single-seat F5Es and 4 two-seater F5Fs, out of the 110 aircraft acquired between 1976 and 1984 and assembled on site by Swiss industry. In 2002, the US Navy had already acquired 32 F5Es from the Swiss authorities, to replace the A4 Skyhawks and simulate light and maneuvering aircraft like the Mig21, for example. 12 other aircraft, two-seater F5Fs, were subsequently acquired, bringing the total to 44 aircraft, for an amount reaching $50 million.
Entered service in 1964, the F5 Freedom Fighter was designed by Northrop to provide the US Air Force, and especially the allies of the United States, with a high-performance and very inexpensive aircraft, capable of opposing conventional aircraft. Soviet aircraft of the time, such as the Mig17 or the Mig19, known for their robustness and maneuverability. More than 2700 units of the device will have been built, including 900 under license (including Swiss devices). Regularly modernized, it has been used by more than 25 air forces around the world, and continues to equip 18, sometimes in large numbers, such as South Korea (194), Brazil (47), Taiwan (45) or Iran again (+- 50). The 22 aircraft that Switzerland will sell to the US Navy are aircraft withdrawn from service, and not aircraft still in service with the Swiss air forces, as one might believe from the wording of the press release.
This transaction will have no impact on the progress of the ongoing competition to replace the 30 F18s and 26 F5s in service with the Swiss air forces. As with the 44 previous aircraft, the 22 F5s will be dismantled and then transferred to the Grumman Factory in Saint-Augustine, Florida, where their potential will be reconstituted and the aircraft modernized to fulfill their Aggressor function, to use American terminology. The US Navy (and the Marine Corps) like the US Air Force have significantly increased the funds allocated to this type of training in recent years, in particular by subcontracting part to Private Military Companies, such as the company Draken International. which acquired 22 Mirage F1s from Madrid transformed into F1Ms to play this role, and from the company ATAC, a subsidiary of Textron, which acquired 63 Mirage F1 CRs and CTs for the same purposes.