United States Navy Strike Fighter Tactics Instructor program
TOPGUN is the code name and common name of the U.S. Navy Strike Fighter Tactics Instructor (SFTI) course.
TOPGUN was formerly known officially as the United States Navy Fighter Weapons School, and was established on March 3, 1969 at NAS Miramar, California after a United States Navy report recommended that a graduate-level school be established to train Fleet fighter pilots in air combat tactics to counter the relatively poor air combat performance being experienced by Navy aircrews over Vietnam. The school initially operated the A-4 Skyhawk and F-5 Freedom Fighter to instruct F-4 Phantom II aircrews, including the first US aces of the Vietnam War, Randy "Duke" Cunningham and Willie Driscoll.
The 1970s and 1980s brought the introduction of the F-14 Tomcat and the F/A-18 Hornet as the primary Fleet fighter aircraft flown by students, while TOPGUN instructors retained their A-4s and F-5s, but also added the F-16 Fighting Falcon to better simulate the threat presented by the Soviet Union's new 4th generation MiG-29 'Fulcrum' and Su-27 'Flanker' fighters.
During the 1990s, the TOPGUN syllabus was modified to include more emphasis on the air-to-ground strike mission as a result of the expanding multi-mission taskings of the F-14 and F/A-18. In addition, Top Gun retired their A-4s, F-5s, and F-16s in favor of F-14s and F/A-18s. In 1996, the transfer of NAS Miramar to the Marine Corps was coupled with the incorporation of Top Gun into the Naval Strike and Air Warfare Center (NSAWC) at NAS Fallon, Nevada. TOPGUN instructors currently fly the F/A-18 Hornet and the F-16 Falcon.
The United States Air Force has a similar school, called the United States Air Force Fighter Weapons School (see: RED FLAG exercise) at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada.
TOPGUN was made famous in popular culture by the 1986 release of the motion picture Top Gun.
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