The Northrop F-20 Tigershark
Channel: World of Warplanes
Date: 13/06/2021

The Tigershark was initially called the F-5G. The Carter administration had initiated a Department of Defense (DOD) project called “FX”, intended to sell less-advanced fighter designs to U.S. allies to limit the possibility of front-line U.S. technology falling Soviet hands, and Northrop initially saw Taiwan as the most likely prospect for the new aircraft. Taiwan already operated F-5s. General Dynamics, then the builder of the F-16, which was being introduced into U.S. Air Force service, was developing the more austere F-16/79, using the J79 engine, for the FX program.

Source: www.defensemedianetwork.com/stories/what-might-have-been-f-20-tigershark/