U.S. F-5F Trainer Jets Don ‘Siberian Tiger’ Camouflage to Mimic Russian Su-27s in Combat Training

An F-5F Tiger II lightweight fighter jet serving as an adversary trainer in the U.S. Navy has been seen in a new ‘Siberian Tiger’ paint scheme closely resembling that used by the Russian Air Force for its Su-27 Flanker heavyweight combat jets. The F-5 made its first flight in the new colour scheme on July 20th, and its expected to begin training with the Navy shortly. The Tiger II is a third generation jet on which a number of modern fighter classes are based, including the F-20 Tigershark, F-18 Hornet, F-18E Super Hornet, the Iranian Saqeh and Kowsar jets and, more loosely, Taiwan’s F-CK Ching Kuo and Brave Eagle jets. The fighter is prized for its manoeuvrability and above all for its ease of maintenance and low operational costs, with F-5s fielded in adversary squadrons notably seeing their avionics and electronic warfare systems upgraded to be able to more effectively mimic the capabilities of enemy jets. 

The U.S. Air Force notably has two Su-27 fighters in its inventory, purchased from Soviet successor state Belarus shortly after the collapse of the USSR, and has extensive knowledge of its capabilities. The fighter was developed as an analogue to the American F-15 Eagle and produced in large numbers throughout the 1990s and into the 2000s. The Su-27 forms the backbone of the Russian Air Force’s combat fleet, and alongside the MiG-31 Foxhound interceptor it is the service's most numerous serving frontline combat jet. The Su-27 is no longer in production either in Russia or in China, where it was briefly manufactured under license, and the aircraft is expected to be phased out of the Russian Air Force in favour of the newer Su-35, Su-30SM and Su-57 jets which are all viable replacements currently in serial production. The Su-30 and Su-35 are based on the Su-27's original airframe but have many notably differences in appearance and much more modern designs. The Su-57 is an entirely new fighter which Russia intends to eventually put into service as a sixth generation combat jet - two generations ahead of the Su-27 which is its direct predecessor.

The most capable Su-27 variants, the Su-27SM2 and Su-27SM3, remain a match for and in many ways surpass the capabilities of the U.S. Navy’s most capable fighters, and benefit not only from a much better flight performance across the spectrum, but also from compatibility with longer ranged air to air missiles and with a larger Irbis-E radar which may be more powerful than those deployed by even newer F-18E variants. The Su-27 has been widely exported by Russia, but is not fielded in a frontline role by any of America’s potential adversaries with the jets no longer playing a major role in China's Air Force and today considered some of the service’s oldest and least capable fighters.

The F-5F in Siberian Tiger colours its the latest of many lightweight American fighters to be painted to resemble prominent Russian fighter classes for adversary training - other notable examples including F-16 and F-18 jets recently painted to resemble the new Su-57 fighter earlier in the year. Although the Su-57 only entered serial production in July 2019, and has yet to enter service in the Russian Air Force, advanced prototypes of the jets have flown combat missions in Syria against jihadist insurgent to test their armaments in combat. With the fighters integrating a wide range of unique next generation technologies including cheek mounted radars and laser defence systems, and with orders for the jets increased considerably in 2019, the aircraft are increasingly viewed as a potential threat.