Much like the Air Force Weapons School and the Navy’s Topgun Fighter Weapons School, the United States Marine Corps has developed a training program designed to produce subject matter experts in the area of cross-domain warfighting. The Weapons and Tactics Instructor course, also known as WTI, is held biannually at Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) Yuma in the southwest corner of Arizona.
During WTI, students receive in-depth, detailed training which is employed and practiced during exercises on the many nearby ranges in Arizona and California. The syllabus includes mission planning and briefing, TTPs, and ultimately the live employment of weapons in multiple scenarios.
In addition, WTI provides instruction and training stressing integrated air-to-air and air-ground combat operations. Intended for experienced Marines, the WTI course is an advanced, graduate-level course for select fixed-wing, rotary-wing and tiltrotor pilots and enlisted aircrew from the Marine Corps aviation community.
Course candidates also include officers and enlisted Marines from Artillery, Forward Air Controllers, Aviation Ground Support, Air Traffic Control, as well as Command and Control assets organic to the Marine Air-Ground Task Force (MAGTF).
The intent is to produce subject matter experts – qualified and experienced instructors who can disseminate weapons and tactics training and information as it relates to aviation within each Marine Corps unit. The WTI course was developed from conventional and special weapons delivery training that was originally provided to Marine Corps attack squadrons by Special Weapons Training Units during the 1950s.
An end of course video production featuring the highlights of Weapons and Tactics Instructor Course (WTI) 2-15 in Yuma, Ariz., from March 8, 2015 to April 26, 2015. WTI is a seven week event hosted by Marine Aviation Weapons and Tactics Squadron One (MAWTS-1) cadre
(U.S. Marine Corps motion imagery by Sgt. Daniel D. Kujanpaa/Released).
Video by Sgt. Daniel Kujanpaa
Inside Marine Weapons and Tactics Instructor Course
