Page 83 - Maritime Services and the Kill Web

The Maritime Services, the Allies and Shaping the Kill Web

“It is not so much teaching the air crews how to use a particular piece of equipment; it is about learning how to
integrate into the fight and to get best value from any upgrade or new piece of equipment. We need to
focus more attention on that part of the equation.”

As an aside we saw the same technology and combat learning dynamic embedded in the US Navy P-8/Triton
community at Navy Jax.

Finally, we discussed a topic which we also discussed with the Hawkeye instructors as well.
Working integration of the digital battlespace among Growler, F-35 and Hawkeye would enhance the TTPs,
which could be developed to more rapidly evolve capabilities in the digital battlespace.

“There are many of us around here who think that the concept of the E2D the F35 and the Growler integrating
would accelerate our transition to where warfare is going with regard to the contested battlespace.

“There are many of us around here who think that would be an outstanding idea that we should really push
for and should be a focus of testing and evaluation.

“But there will be people around as well who will say but how does that lead to me dropping bombs?”

Visiting NAWDC: A Discussion with TOPGUN

2017-09-01 During our recent visit to NAWDC we had a chance to talk with the N7 Department, otherwise
known as TOPGUN.
The lead for the discussion was the Department Head, Commander Mariner.

According to the US Navy, the role of N7 within NAWDC is as follows:

In the early stages of the Vietnam War, the tactical performance of Navy fighter aircraft against seemingly
technologically inferior adversaries, the North Vietnamese MiG-17, MiG-19, and MiG-21, fell far short of
expectations and caused significant concern among national leadership.
Based on an unacceptable ratio of combat losses, in 1967, ADM Tom Moorer, Chief of Naval Operations,
commissioned an in-depth examination of the process by which air-to-air missile systems were acquired and
employed. Among the multitude of findings within this report was the critical need for an advanced fighter
weapons school, designed to train aircrew in all aspects of aerial combat including the capabilities and limitations
of Navy aircraft and weapon systems, along with those of the expected threat.

In 1969, the United States Navy Fighter Weapons School (TOPGUN) was established to develop and implement
a course of graduate-level instruction in aerial combat. Today, TOPGUN continues to provide advanced tactics
training for FA-18A-F aircrew in the Navy and Marine Corps through the execution of the Strike Fighter Tactics
Instructor (SFTI) Course. TOPGUN is the most demanding air combat syllabus found anywhere in the world. The
SFTI Course ultimately produces graduate-level strike fighter tacticians, adversary instructors, and Air Intercept
Controllers (AIC) who go on to fill the critical assignment of Training Officer in fleet units.

https://www.cnic.navy.mil/regions/cnrsw/installations/nas_fallon/about/nawdc.html

The role of the squadron pilots is a key element driving change in any air-enabled combat force.
As Ed Timperlake, a former Naval Aviator, who was honored to engage with the first CO of TOPGUN the
late “Mugs” McKeown on a worldwide assessment of tactical aviation for the CIA at the height of the Cold
war, has argued:

Page 82