Elbit contracted for F-5 fighter upgrade by undisclosed Asian country

Elbit Systems has been awarded contracts to upgrade the F-5 Freedom Fighter/Tiger supersonic fighter aircraft of an undisclosed Asian air force.

Valued at approximately $85m, the contract primarily covers an F-5 aircraft avionics upgrade programme, with some of the money being spent on the purchase of electro-optic and communications systems.

Elbit Systems president and chief executive officer Bezhalel Machlis said: "Asia-Pacific is a very important market for Elbit Systems, and we are pleased to be awarded further programmes in the region, which programmes benefit from the synergies across the various parts of our organisation.

"We are proud to have been selected to perform this aircraft upgrade programme, building on our vast know-how and experience in F-5 avionics modernisation projects.

"Asia-Pacific is a very important market for Elbit Systems, and we are pleased to be awarded further programmes in the region."

"We have witnessed a growing demand for upgrades of this nature, and we trust that further customers will follow, benefiting from a mature aircraft upgraded with market leading technologies."

The company did not revealed the name of customer, but Flightglobal reported that the F-5 jets are being operated by six air forces in the Asia-Pacific region, including Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand.

Powered by two General Electric J85-GE-21B turbojet engines, the Northrop Grumman F-5 is a single-seat, supersonic fighter aircraft designed to conduct air-to-ground and air-to-air operations.

The aircraft are also in use with the air forces of Austria, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Ethiopia, Greece, Jordan, Spain and the US.

Work under the contracts is scheduled to be performed over a three-year period.