I've read that the latest F-5 upgrades are quite serviceable, provided you can get around the small combat radius. The advantages of relative simplicity and cheapness of operation have to count for something to somebody.
Maybe the F-5 counts as "too much of a good thing". When we look at the USAF, we see a number of truly stellar performers. However, we also see very good but much cheaper airframes like the F-16 (compared to the F-15). That should mean that there is a place for an aircraft like the F-5. As Adm. Lee points out, perhaps the quality of the F-5 that prevented it from becoming a success was the fact that the US didn't use it extensively.
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“We’re not innovating. We’re selectively imitating.” June Bernstein, Acting President of the University of Arizona in Tucson, November 15, 1998.
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