NAVAL AIR STATION FALLON
Home of TOPGUN, NAWDC, and the Navy's carrier air wing workup.
OVERVIEW
Naval Air Station Fallon is the U.S. Navy's premier strike, fighter, and integrated carrier air wing training installation, occupying about 240,000 acres of high-desert terrain in northern Nevada about 60 miles east of Reno. The base is the host site of the Naval Aviation Warfighting Development Center (NAWDC), the major Navy command responsible for developing and teaching the tactics, techniques, and procedures used by the entire naval aviation enterprise. Approximately 1,500 active-duty Sailors and civilian employees are permanently assigned to the base, and thousands of additional transient aircrew rotate through Fallon every year.
NAS Fallon is best known internationally as the home of the U.S. Navy Fighter Weapons School — TOPGUN — which moved from NAS Miramar in 1996 and has been part of NAWDC since 2015. Alongside TOPGUN, NAWDC runs the Carrier Airborne Early Warning Weapons School (CAEWWS, known as "TOP DOME"), the Naval Rotary Wing Weapons School (SEAWOLF), the Maritime ISR Weapons School, the Naval Special Warfare School at Fallon, and the Strike Fighter Tactics Instructor program. The resident adversary squadron, VFC-13 "Saints," flies F-5N Tiger II aircraft to provide aggressor air opposition. The Fallon Range Training Complex — among the largest U.S. military training ranges in the country — provides the surface-to-air, electronic warfare, and live-fire instrumented threats required for carrier air wings to complete their advanced workup phase before deployment.
KEY FACTS
- MissionU.S. Navy's premier strike, fighter, and air wing training installation
- Host CommandNaval Aviation Warfighting Development Center (NAWDC)
- TOPGUNHome of the Strike Fighter Tactics Instructor Course since 1996
- Range ComplexFallon Range Training Complex — about 240,000 acres of land + restricted airspace
- Air Wing WorkupsAll carrier air wings complete advanced phase training at Fallon before deployment
HISTORY
Naval Air Station Fallon traces its origins to 1942, when the U.S. Army Air Forces established an auxiliary training airfield near the small farming community of Fallon, Nevada, on land selected for its remote location, expansive flat terrain, and consistently clear flying weather. The Navy assumed operational control of the airfield in 1943 and used it through the rest of World War II as a small auxiliary training site for naval aviators. After the war the base was placed in caretaker status and saw only intermittent use through the late 1940s and early 1950s.
The base's modern role began in 1959 when the Navy reactivated Fallon as a major auxiliary training base and installed instrumented bombing ranges in the surrounding desert to support live-ordnance training that could no longer safely be conducted at coastal California training sites. Through the 1960s the base supported continuous carrier air wing detachments and, by the late 1960s, hosted the Naval Strike Warfare Center — informally "Strike U" — which the Navy established in 1972 to train carrier air wings in the integrated strike operations needed for the post-Vietnam fleet.
Through the 1970s and 1980s, NAS Fallon's role steadily expanded as the Navy concentrated more of its advanced aviation training on the base's large, sparsely populated ranges. The Strike Warfare Center developed and refined the modern carrier air wing strike-planning syllabus, and the base became the standard final stop in the carrier air wing workup cycle before deployment. The 1995 Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) decision to close NAS Miramar — and to transfer the U.S. Navy Fighter Weapons School (TOPGUN) elsewhere — set the stage for Fallon's elevation to the Navy's premier aviation tactics training site. TOPGUN relocated from Miramar to Fallon in 1996, and the Navy subsequently consolidated other warfare schools at Fallon as well.
In 2015, the Navy established the Naval Aviation Warfighting Development Center (NAWDC) at NAS Fallon, formally consolidating TOPGUN, the Strike Fighter Tactics Instructor program, the Carrier Airborne Early Warning Weapons School, the Naval Rotary Wing Weapons School, and several other tactics development organizations under a single host command. NAWDC today is the unified intellectual and operational center of Navy aviation tactics development, and NAS Fallon is its home installation.
MAJOR COMMANDS & TENANT UNITS
- Naval Aviation Warfighting Development Center (NAWDC) — host command
- Strike Fighter Tactics Instructor Course (TOPGUN)
- Carrier Airborne Early Warning Weapons School (CAEWWS / "TOP DOME")
- Naval Rotary Wing Weapons School (HSCWSP / SEAWOLF)
- VFC-13 "Saints" — Fighter Squadron Composite 13 (F-5N adversary)
LOCATION & GEOGRAPHY
NOTABLE EVENTS
- 1942Auxiliary Field EstablishedArmy Air Forces auxiliary airfield established near Fallon in the Nevada high desert.
- 1972Strike Warfare CenterNaval Strike Warfare Center ("Strike U") established at NAS Fallon to train carrier air wings in integrated strike operations.
- 1996TOPGUN Moves InThe U.S. Navy Fighter Weapons School (TOPGUN) relocated from NAS Miramar to NAS Fallon, joining Strike U and other warfare schools.
- 2015NAWDC EstablishedNaval Aviation Warfighting Development Center (NAWDC) established at NAS Fallon, consolidating all Navy aviation warfighting tactics development under one command.