Left page top:
One of TOPGUN’s
freshly painted
‘Vipers’ returns
to Fallon.
Left page center:
Instructors and
graduates wear
the coveted
‘blue’ TOPGUN
patch.
Right: VFC-13’s
F-5Ns regularly
support TOPGUN
when increased
numbers of
adversaries are
required.
Below: Students
in eet jets are
joined at the end
of the runway by
an instructor in
an F-16A.Becoming an
instructor
Upon graduating the course, some
students remain to become instructors
— there are currently 33 at TOPGUN —
some move to the east and west coast
weapons schools, some move to the
Strike department within NAWDC and
others to operational evaluation with
VX-9 ‘Vampires’.
The path to being an instructor is even
more demanding than the initial course.
‘As you enter Instructor Under Training
[IUT] you start with adversary ying. You
also start your pre-board lectures as you
are assigned a SME [subject matter
expert] topic,’ ‘Ru es’ explains. The
boards are designed to work the new
SME up towards the ‘murder board’. This is
the sign-o for a SME and their
knowledge base that quali es them to
teach on the specialist lecture to a class.
These are fed in as relevant in the four
phases, with around 20 SME topics
covering everything from hardware and
systems to employment and tactics.
‘To become a BFM instructor it takes
25-30 sorties,’ explains ‘Ru es’. ‘You can’t
instruct BFM until you get your BFM
instructor quali cation — and it’s the
most rigorous.’
TOPGUN also runs an adversary course,
which is seven weeks and essentially
teaches crews how to create a problem
— this is essentially centered upon
bandit presentations.
CDR Christopher ‘Pops’ Papaioanu is the
current skipper of TOPGUN. ‘I came here
for my rst tour as a TOPGUN instructor
14 years ago because TOPGUN instructors
are the best in the business and I wanted
to reach that level,’ he says. ‘They were,and still are today, the aircrew you would
just be in awe of over their level of
professionalism and talent in the jet.’
Explaining the sheer level of quali cation
and dedication it takes to become a
TOPGUN instructor, he says: ‘What is 10 to
12 ights for a student to complete
during the BFM phase, for example, is 25
to 30 ights for a TOPGUN instructor to
complete. Where students can watch
their tapes post- ight, before drawing
the ghts on a white board during the
debrief, the instructors can’t — it’s all
down to what notes they can take down
during the ght and their overall ability
to mentally recall speci cs. Whole sorties
can be spent at 7.5g looking back over
their shoulders but they still have to
demonstrate perfect recall. I remember I
ew all ve days of the week to pass
defensive BFM. By Friday night I couldn’t
move my neck, but at least I’d passed!
E ectively, the main course is akin to a
masters’ degree, but becoming aninstructor is like getting a doctorate and
it will generally take two years for an
instructor to be fully quali ed in every
phase of the course.’
In 2020, TOPGUN expects to execute its
rst F-35C course and recently the
NAWDC teams have started
experimenting with visiting Lightning IIs
from VFA-101. The Navy has been
thinking ahead — it has sta ed the new
F-35 community heavily with patch-
wearers. CDR Papaioanu acknowledges
that the F-35 ‘will herald a big change in
the way TOPGUN and the Navy does
business.’ It’s all part of the evolution of
this incredible training center, whose sole
purpose is to ensure the Navy strike
ghter community stays razor sharp and
at the top of its game.Acknowledgements: The author wishes to
thank CDR Andrew Mariner, CDR
Christopher Papaioanu, LT Joe Rice, Mr
Zip Upham, the Nevada Air National
Guard and all at NAWDC.Whole sorties can be spent at 7.5g looking back over their
shoulders but they still have to demonstrate perfect recall. I
remember I fl ew all fi ve days of the week to pass defensive BFM.
By Friday night I couldn’t move my neck, but at least I’d passed!
CDR CHRISTOPHER PAPAIOANU
US NAVY & MARINE CORPS AIR POWER YEARBOOK 2018
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