The ''Ault Report'', or more formally the ''Air-to-Air Missile System Capability Review'', was a sweeping study of US Navy air-to-air missile performance during the period of 1965 to 1968, conducted by Navy Captain

Frank Ault Captain Frank Ault, USN (Ret) (1922 – August 25, 2006) 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. Disturbed over less t ...

. The study was initiated at the behest of Admiral Tom Moorer,

Chief of Naval Operations The chief of naval operations (CNO) is the professional head of the United States Navy. The position is a statutory office () held by an admiral who is a military adviser and deputy to the secretary of the Navy. In a separate capacity as a memb ...

(CNO), who had taken office in August 1967. He was disturbed by the dismal performance of Navy air-to-air missiles in engagements with

North Vietnam North Vietnam, officially the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV; vi, Việt Nam Dân chủ Cộng hòa), was a socialist state supported by the Soviet Union (USSR) and the People's Republic of China (PRC) in Southeast Asia that existed f ...

ese fighter jets. Admiral Moorer tasked the

Naval Air Systems Command The Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) provides materiel support for aircraft and airborne weapon systems for the United States Navy. It is one of the Echelon II Navy systems commands (SYSCOM), and was established in 1966 as the successor to the ...

(NAVAIRSYSCOM) to conduct "an in-depth examination of the entire process by which Air-to-Air missile systems are acquired and employed" and further directed that Ault be placed in charge of the effort.

Background

Following the

Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...

the United States military adopted the view that airborne radar and air-to-air missiles made guns and dogfighting obsolete. The

radar-guided Radar guidance or radar-guided may refer to: * Active radar guidance * Semi-active radar guidance * Passive radar guidance * Radar altimeter guidance {{Short pages monitor