The F-86F incorporated the J-47-GE-27 turbojet engine, which had a military rating of 5,910-1b thrust (a 700.1b thrust increase over the -13 engine of the F-86E), and 200-gallon, droppable fuel tanks (replacing the 120-gallon tanks of the F-86A and E models). The F-86F also featured the so-called "6-3" solid-wing leadingedge (later modified to reintroduce deleted slats), with small boundary layer fences fitted for the first time.

Despite the higher thrust of the F-86F's new engine, early F-86Fs demonstrated no marked combat superiority over modified F86Es. Yet, they outperformed their predecessors in acceleration and rate of climb below 30,000 feet. Ensuing F86F variances with their built-in improvements increased the gap and, by March 1953, F-86Es were being withdrawn from combat in favor of the new model. In the fighter-bomber role, F-86Fs also proved their effectiveness quickly. In mid-1953, after but a few months in combat, the Fifth Air Force described the aircraft as "the most suitable fighter-bomber employed in Korea:" The F-86F "displayed a superior ability to survive, was a stable gun and bomb platform, had no airfield or operating problems not peculiar to other jets, and possessed satisfactory stability when carrying external ordnance at high altitudes."

By the end of the war, the F-86s-and the F-86Fs in particular had achieved and held air superiority in Korea. The final boxscore showed 14 MIGs downed for every F-86 lost (818 versus 58).