The Northrop F-5 tactical fighter was designed as an extremely maneuverable, supersonic fighter with a high rate of reliability at a low operating cost. The F-5 first flew on July 30, 1959 with the first customer delivery in 1964. The last of more than 2,600 F-5’s was produced in 1989 and about two-thirds of these are still in service with 26 countries more than 4 decades later. The F-5 was manufactured by Northrop Grumman and under license in Canada, Taiwan, South Korea, Spain and Switzerland.
In 1972 Northrop Grumman F-5F Tiger II MSN Z.1002 was the second F-5F manufactured for Iran and given Iranian serial 7-7155. 7-7155 flew numerous combat missions during the Iran-Iraq War. 3-7155 was assigned to the 41st TFS between 1976 and 2009 before being transferred to the 43rd TFS (The Tigers). Both units are part of the 41st TFW located at Dez/Vahdati, 4th Tactical Air Base. The 41st TFS is equipped with F-5E and perhaps some F-5F while the 43rd TFS is believed to have 11 F-5Fs.