South Vietnam received over 150 F-5 fighters, some of which were F-5Es. After the fall of Saigon, many of these F-5s were evacuated to Thailand, though some still fell into Soviet and Vietnamese hands. The evacuated F-5s began a new life in Thailand, which operated about 70 of them in its own air force. All of these F-5s, except the F-5Es, were retired not long afterwards. The F-5Es, however, were upgraded multiple times throughout their service life and continue to serve with the Royal Thai Air Force to this day. They are not expected to retire until at least 2025–2030.

Introduced in Update "Alpha Strike" as part of the Japanese tech tree, the Thai F-5E FCU plays with all the major advantages of the other F-5Es in-game, being incredibly light and highly manoeuvrable, resulting in some of the best energy retention of any jet aircraft at its battle rating. The Thai F-5E also solves one of the few downsides of the other F-5Es: their sub-par missiles. The F-5E FCU has access to four all-aspect missiles instead of the usual two rear-aspect-only missiles found on other F-5s in-game. In addition, it receives the usual excellent complement of ground ordnance available to F-5s, providing an outstanding CAS option for players in mixed battles. All in all, the F-5E FCU is a great all-rounder for almost every role it may encounter at its battle rating, and is generally a forgiving vehicle to play, easy to learn even for less experienced pilots.