Republic of China Air Force Retires F-5 Fighters After 60 Years of Service

The Republic of China Air Force has retired its last F-5F fighter aircraft and RF-5E reconnaissance planes from active service, marking a final end to the lightweight combat jet’s long service in China, and a significant step towards its retirement globally. With the first F-5s having been delivered in 1965, the aircraft were operated for 60 years, which is one of the longest periods that any fighter class has been fielded by any one service. While the first F-5s received were F-5A/B variants, the newer F-5E/F that served until recently were procured in the 1970s, and formed the backbone of the Republic of China’s fleet with over 300 being produced under license. This made the Republic of China Air Force the largest operator of the class in the world, with batches being incrementally modernised to meet customised specifications.&nbsp;<img src="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/m/articles/2025/07/08/article_686c83a87304a8_19048411.jpg" title="Republic of China Air Force F-5E Fighter">While the F-5E/F served as a frontline fighter, the RF-5E Tigergazer variant was developed by Singapore-based ST Aerospace as an upgrade package in the 1996, and saw significant changes to the fuselage to accommodate new updated avionics for reconnaissance missions. They integrated the KS-87D forward-looking camera, a KA-95C low-altitude wide-angle camera, and the RS-710E infrared camera. The aircraft are expected to be replaced by&nbsp; both MQ-9B drones, and by modernised F-16s with MS-110 LOROP reconnaissance pods, which are being supplied by the United States. The last RF-5Es and F-5Fs served with the 12th Tactical Reconnaissance Group at Hualien Air Base, which is set to receive the first four MQ-9B drones in 2026. Although the F-5 was relegated to the status of a second tier fighter in the 1990s, as the Republic of China Defence Ministry ordered F-16, Mirage 2000 and F-CK Ching Kuo fourth generation fighters, the retirement of the F-5 fleet was accelerated from 2021 after the aircraft were involved in <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/taiwan-loses-four-fighters-in-under-six-months-as-two-f-5e-jets-crash">multiple crashes</a>.<img src="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/m/articles/2025/07/08/article_686c8413a7db66_47964114.png" title="RF-5E Recon Planes and F-5F Fighters">During its time in service, two F-5E/F fighters were used by pilots to <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/how-taiwanese-veteran-pilots-defected-to-china-with-their-american-jets" target="_blank">defect</a> to the Chinese mainland, where the People’s Republic of China government remains technically in a state of civil war with the Republic of China based on Taiwan. With the international community including the United States and the United Nations continuing to recognise the People’s Republic of China as the sole legitimate Chinese government, the Republic of China Air Force have struggled to procure modern fighter planes, and as a result no comparable license production deals to that for the F-5 have been made since. Efforts to procure F-16C/D fighters to phase the F-5 fleet out of service consistently fell short of success under the George W. Bush and Barack Obama administrations, as have efforts since the early 2000s to order F-35s as an alternative possible successor to the F-5. The F-5s are instead expected to be replaced by domestically developed Brave Eagle lightweight fighters.