[3] NAS Key West is an air-to-air combat training facility for fighter aircraft of all military services, with favorable flying conditions year round and nearby aerial ranges.

[5] The air station is also host to several tenant commands, including Fighter Squadron Composite 111 (VFC-111), Strike Fighter Squadron 106 (VFA-106) Detachment Key West, the U.S. Army Special Forces Underwater Operations School and Headquarters, Joint Interagency Task Force South (JIATF South).

The U.S. Navy's presence in Key West dates back to 1823 when a Naval Base was established to stop piracy in this area.

The base was expanded during the Mexican–American War, with the construction of Fort Zachary Taylor and other fortifications in the Key West area commencing in 1845 and continuing through to its completion in 1866.

Ground was broken for construction of a small coastal air patrol station on 13 July 1917 at what is now Trumbo Point on land leased from the Florida East Coast Railway Company.

The project involved dredging, erection of station buildings, three seaplane ramps, a dirigible hangar, a hydrogenerator plant, and temporary barracks.

On 22 September of that year, the base's log book recorded the first naval flight ever made from Key West – a Curtiss N-9 seaplane flown by U.S. Coast Guard Lieutenant Stanley Parker.

About three months later, on 18 December, Naval Air Base Key West was commissioned and LT Parker became the first Commanding Officer.

Naval Air Base Key West pilots flew in search of German submarines resting on the surface to recharge batteries.

The slow Curtiss biplanes flew low over surfaced subs, and gunners dropped grenades into open conning towers.

The government had retained the property during the interwar period of the 1920s and 1930s, which proved to be a wise decision as the nation scrambled to re-arm in a state of emergency at the outbreak of the war.

Naval Base Key West was reopened just prior to the United States' entry into World War II to support Navy destroyers, submarines, patrol craft and PBY flying boat and amphibious aircraft.

[6] NAS Key West was to become a focal point during the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, which posed the first doorstep threat to the United States in more than a century.

During the Missile Crisis, Key West cemented its claim to the title "Gibraltar of the Gulf", coined over a hundred years earlier by Commodore David Porter.

Today, an ARSR-4 radar is part of the Joint Surveillance System (JSS), designated by NORAD as Southeast Air Defense Sector (SEADS) Ground Equipment Facility "J-07".

In 1946, Air Test and Evaluation Squadron 1 (VX-1) was established at NAS Key West and for the next three decades conducted airborne antisubmarine warfare (ASW) systems evaluation out of Boca Chica, while Helicopter Antisubmarine Squadron 1 (HS-1) conducted Atlantic Fleet helicopter fleet replacement training in the SH-3 Sea King out of the former seaplane base at Trumbo Point.

In 1973, Reconnaissance Attack Wing 1 (RECONATKWING ONE) began relocation from the closing NAS Albany, Georgia with its RA-5C Vigilante, TA-3B Skywarrior and TA-4F/J Skyhawk II aircraft.

All RVAH squadrons were in place at NAS Key West by late 1974 and all were eventually decommissioned over a six-year period that coincided with the phased retirement of the RA-5C.

The majority of the airspace is covered by a Tactical Aircrew Combat Training System (TACTS) range that continuously tracks aircraft positions and maneuvering parameters, recording everything for later playback during mission debrief.

Most military family housing, as well as the Navy Exchange, Commissary, Navy Lodge guest billeting, RV park and other Morale, Welfare and Recreation (MWR) activities are located at Sigsbee Park, a man-made island on the north side of Key West created from dredging of seaplane runways for the NAS Key West seaplane base at Trumbo Point in the 1940s.