By this time the RMAF Museum had closed and its aircraft were stored at the old airbase, which was also closed.

One of two Tigereyes then operated by the TUDM.

Having already operated twenty F-5's of various versions since the mid 1970's, the Royal Malaysian AF in 1980 became the launch customer for the rare RF-5E Tigereye, of which two were added to the TUDM (Tentera Udara Diraja Malaysia) fleet in 1983. Assigned to SQN 12 "Scorpions" at Butterworth, they were serialled M29-19 (US FY # 80-0333) and M29-20 (80-0334). Before getting the M29-xx serials, Malaysia's F-5's carried FM-22xx codes. Also in the early 1980's, two F-5E and a single F-5F were ordered as attrition replacements, bringing the total number of F-5's operated by the RMAF to 25.