Naval Air Station Kingsville Naval Air Station Kingsville or NAS Kingsville is a military airport located 3 miles east of Kingsville , Texas . Under the current US Navy organization known as Commander , Naval Installations ( CNI ) , NAS Corpus Christi and NAS Kingsville are part of Navy Region Southeast headquartered at NAS Jacksonville , Florida . Both facilities were previously under the since - disestablished Navy Region South , where the rear admiral serving as Region Commander and as Chief of Naval Air Training ( CNATRA ) were the same individual . NAS Kingsville ’ s operation is the natural complement of NAS Corpus Christi . NAS Kingsville operates higher performance single engine aircraft , generally over land . Distance , rather than safety or capacity concerns , limits NAS Kingsville use of overwater areas . NAS Kingsville also organizes and hosts the annual Wings Over South Texas Air Show . Current operations . Naval Air Station Kingsville is one of the U . S . Navy ’ s premier locations for jet aviation training . The naval air station ’ s primary mission is to train Student Naval Aviator s for the United States Navy and United States Marine Corps and tactical jet pilots for other select NATO and Allied countries . To accomplish its mission , NAS Kingsville is home to Training Air Wing TWO and several tenant commands , military as well as civilian , with a total complement of approximately 300 officers , 200 enlisted , 350 civilian personnel , and 625 contract maintenance personnel . The wing was the first in the Navy to operate the Boeing T - 45 Goshawk aircraft , providing a single carrier - capable aircraft to replace the North American Rockwell T - 2 Buckeye and the McDonnell Douglas TA - 4 Skyhawk II in the Navy ' s strike pilot training pipeline . Originally equipped with the T - 45A model of the Goshawk , the wing began accepting new production T - 45C model aircraft in 2005 , which replaces the earlier T - 45A aircraft ' s analog cockpit with a digital or " glass " cockpit similar to what students will find when they transition to operational fleet combat aircraft . All T - 45A aircraft at NAS Kingsville are slated to be retrofitted and upgraded to a T - 45C configuration under the T - 45 Required Avionics Modernization Program ( T - 45 RAMP ) , with a select number of RAMP modified aircraft slated for transfer to Training Air Wing SIX at NAS Pensacola , Florida in support of Student Naval Flight Officer training under the Undergraduate Military Flight Officer ( UMFO ) program . NAS Kingsville is also home to two United States Army Reserve units : Detachment 1 , 370th Transportation Company ( Medium Truck Palletized Load System ) and Company F ( MEDEVAC ) , 7th Battalion , 158th Aviation Regiment . The NAS Kingsville Operations Department operates the airfield and provides services to support operations of activity , tenant , and transiting aircraft ; provides firefighting functions , both structural and fire and rescue ; provides air traffic control ; operates air terminal ; schedules administrative and proficiency flights ; repairs and maintains station ground electronics equipment ; stores , maintains , and issues assigned ordnance and munitions ; operates firing ranges ; operates aerial targets , bombing ranges , and auxiliary landing fields . NAS Kingsville also has both Military and Civilian security which man the entry control points and conduct vehicle inspections and patrols .