Photo: U.S. Marine Corps Aggressor plane in a cool Soviet-Tiger color scheme.

David Cenciotti
1 Min Read

Wearing the special paint scheme that celebrates the 25th Anniversary of the VMFT-401 “Snipers”, this Franken-Tiger (761586 / LS-00) plane was photographed by Tony Lovelock at MCAS Yuma, Arizona, on Jan. 26, 2012.

The aircraft, along with the typical Soviet cross, sports a cool tiger rudder.

Noteworthy, along with the new Air Force’s aggressors paint jobs even the Snipers’ one was first reported in Fall 2011.

The Franken-Tiger is a hybrid plane, made with the cockpit of an F-5F and the rest of the airframe coming from a former Swiss Air Force F-5E. It is used by the U.S. Navy aggressor’s squadron to provide “adversary services” during Weapons and Tactics Instructor (WTI) courses.

All images by Tony Lovelock

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David Cenciotti is a journalist based in Rome, Italy. He is the Founder and Editor of “The Aviationist”, one of the world’s most famous and read military aviation blogs. Since 1996, he has written for major worldwide magazines, including Air Forces Monthly, Combat Aircraft, and many others, covering aviation, defense, war, industry, intelligence, crime and cyberwar. He has reported from the U.S., Europe, Australia and Syria, and flown several combat planes with different air forces. He is a former 2nd Lt. of the Italian Air Force, a private pilot and a graduate in Computer Engineering. He has written five books and contributed to many more ones.
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