This image:
TOPGUN
instructors form
up in an array of
aircraft assigned
to NAWDC, from
two standard
F/A-18Cs to an
F/A-18F and an
adversary F-16B.
Right top to
bottom: Some
of the TOPGUN
instructors are
qualifi ed to fl y
the F-16A, a type
that is unique to
NAWDC in the US
Navy inventory.
The school’s
instructors
typically wear
green cloth
helmet covers.TOPGUN now ies a handful of F/A-18C
Hornets, standard gray Super Hornets
and colorful F-16A/Bs, all of which are
maintained by civilian contractors from
DynCorp. The students y loaned eet
jets — primarily Super Hornets — in
a re ection of the current eet unit
structure. Instead of ying as ‘Red Air’
against students, as the original TOPGUN
instructors did from the out t’s inception
to late 1994, instructors at the school
now y both ‘Red Air’ and ‘Blue Air’, which
means they also y with the students as
part of their section or division ights.
LT Joe ‘Ru es’ Rice is the current
TOPGUN training o cer, and pretty much
runs the show when it comes to the
courses. ‘Most people come to TOPGUN
after their JO [junior o cer, LT] tour,’ he
explains. ‘Ru es’ came from VFA-192 on
the F/A-18C/E and says that making it
to TOPGUN was one of his goals from
the outset. ‘Those that want to come to
TOPGUN send in an application package
including letters of recommendation
from their commanding o cer, from their
training o cer [who will be a patch-wearer] and from a TOPGUN patch-wearer
from a di erent squadron. I personally
really looked up to our training o cer
in my squadron — he was our mentor.’
He says the TOPGUN graduates, wearing
the coveted patch, essentially lter the
applicants at the grass roots level.
‘Fleet crews come to TOPGUN for a
three-month course, which is split into
four distinct parts,’ he adds. ‘It starts with
lectures, then moves into ights. This
starts with the 1-v-1 BFM [basic ghter
maneuvers] phase — essentially it’s
dog ghting. We prioritize the live ying.
It’s about repetition — the more you y,
the better you’ll be.’ From BFM the course
moves on to an air-to-surface phase, then
the section phase (working as a pair), and
division phase (four-ship).
TOPGUN follows a strict syllabus for
each event. ‘The students typically y each
event three to four times,’ ‘Ru es’ outlines.
‘It’s normal for them not to pass rst
time, but this is about repetition... They
don’t typically y much BFM in their eet
squadrons, so they don’t get the razor
focus that we do here. The students will yhttp://www.combataircraft.net // September 2018 63
60-67 Supp_TOPGUN Today C.indd 63 19/07/2018 14:13