I just watched a doco on the F-5 and was astounded by its rough field performance, there was footage of F-5As and Bs taking off and landing on fields that would have seen a P-40 or Spitfire nose over and lunch their props. They even showed some of it in slow motion where you can see the landing gear absorbing the dips and bumps, no wonder the US Army wanted them. I had no idea about their ease of maintenance, or that ALL of their support and test equipment was ruggedized and easily portable. Scherger was spot on in his recommendation that the NF-156 was suitable for the RAAF, specifically with local manufacture and regional export in mind.
I imagine replacing their 20mm cannon with 30mm ADENs wouldn't be a goer but who cares, forget the Wiff side of things, the F-5 should have been selected for the RAAF, it would have been absolutely superb.