The United States Navy Strike Fighter Tactics Instructor program (SFTI program), more popularly known as TOPGUN, is the modern-day evolution of the United States Navy Fighter Weapons School which was originally established on March 3, 1969 at the former Naval Air Station Miramar

Marine Corps Air Station Miramar

Marine Corps Air Station Miramar , formerly Naval Air Station Miramar is a United States Marine Corps installation that is home to the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, which is the aviation element of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force...

 in California. The SFTI program carries out the same specialized fighter training as NFWS (Navy Fighter Weapons School) had from 1969 until 1996, when it was merged into the Naval Strike and Air Warfare Center

Naval Strike and Air Warfare Center

The Naval Strike and Air Warfare Center at Naval Air Station Fallon located in the city of Fallon in western Nevada is the center of excellence for naval aviation training and tactics development...

 at NAS Fallon, Nevada.
The United States Navy

United States Navy

The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...

 (USN) Fighter Weapons School was established on March 3, 1969 at NAS Miramar, California at the direction of the Chief of Naval Operations

Chief of Naval Operations

The Chief of Naval Operations is a statutory office held by a four-star admiral in the United States Navy, and is the most senior uniformed officer assigned to serve in the Department of the Navy. The office is a military adviser and deputy to the Secretary of the Navy...

 (CNO).

The school was the end result of a study, published in May 1968, by USN Captain Frank Ault

Frank Ault

Captain Frank Ault, USN was a United States Naval officer. He is best remembered for the classified study he led in 1968 that led to the creation of the Navy Fighter Weapons School, or TOPGUN...

 who, at the direction of the CNO, researched the failings of the US air to air missiles used in aerial combat in the skies over North Vietnam

North Vietnam

The Democratic Republic of Vietnam , was a communist state that ruled the northern half of Vietnam from 1954 until 1976 following the Geneva Conference and laid claim to all of Vietnam from 1945 to 1954 during the First Indochina War, during which they controlled pockets of territory throughout...

.