Aircraft Technology Engineering

The Aircraft Technology Engineering team serves as the primary integrators of new systems and technology on the F-5AT aircraft. Our engineers apply agile development strategies to rapidly integrate the latest technologies and systems into the F-5AT, ensuring our aircraft are the most capable advisory in the market.

This rapid integration is accomplished without sacrificing quality and ensures compliance with all safety and airworthiness requirements. We have an exceptional track record of going from initial set of requirements, to design and manufacturing, to initial flight testing within weeks.

To date, Aircraft Technology has integrated multiple tactical systems on the F-5AT, including, but not limited to Link-16, Tactical Data Links, Radar, Radar Warning Receivers (RWR), Internal Electronic Attack (EA) Digital Radio Frequency Memory (DRFM) jammers, and Infrared Search and Track (IRST) systems. All tactical systems are fully integrated within the aircraft, to include display within the aircraft’s glass cockpit, and do not rely on external pods or government furnished equipment.

In addition to integrating new systems, the Aircraft Technology team also serves as the sustaining engineering team for the fleet of Tactical Air Support owned aircraft. In this role, the team develops non-standard repairs, dispositions non-conforming material, and reverse engineering obsolete components as well as hardware and software to interface for new digital systems to operate with legacy analog systems. The Aircraft Technology Engineering team has the expertise to provide these services to other customers and aircraft upon request.

Aircraft Integration Engineering

The Engineering team embedded into the Aircraft Integration and Modernization (AIM) division of Tactical Air Support offers a range of capabilities to include rapid prototyping using additive manufacturing, structural analysis, test and evaluation and generating a comprehensive technical data package that meets the requirements of DoD standards. A deep understanding of avionics systems and aircraft maintenance practices allows the team to provide both production friendly and sustainable designs.

Field Support Engineering

Field support engineering fine tunes and troubleshoots developmental systems with our operators into a polished package. Whether it’s adjustments to software/hardware or providing training to maintainers and pilots alike, our Field Support Engineers (FSE) are systems subject matter experts on call and deployable to assist Tactical Air Support’s or its customer’s needs. FSEs are knowledgeable on the F‑5AT and F‑5N+ modifications from nose to tail, and they ensure mission success whenever and wherever the need arises.

Flight Test Services

We have trained test professionals from the DoD test community to include USAF and USN Test Pilot School Graduates. Via our fleet of F-5AT aircraft, Tactical Air is the sole commercial provider of 4th/5th gen flight test capability. Whether you need a test bed for a new sensor, supersonic chase, a target with 5th gen capabilities or configurable mission systems, Tactical Air can provide these services anywhere your test program requires.