Naval Air Station, North Island (NASNI) is part of the largest aerospace-industrial complex in the Navy, the 57,000-acre Naval Base Coronado. The commanding officer of North Island is also the Commanding Officer, Naval Base Coronado. Additionally, he commands or administers Naval Amphibious Base Coronado, Outlying Field Imperial Beach, Navy Radio Receiving Facility, Mountain Training Facility LaPosta, Warner Springs Training Area and Naval Air Landing Facility, San Clemente Island. NASNI, with only its commands in the metropolitan San Diego Area, brackets the City of Coronado from the entrance to San Diego Bay to the Mexican border.

North Island itself is host to 23 squadrons and 80 additional tenant commands and activities, one of which, the Naval Aviation Depot, is the largest aerospace employer in San Diego. North
Island was commissioned a naval air station in 1917. On August 15, 1963, the station, which was originally called the Naval Air Station, San Diego until 1955, was granted official recognition as the "Birthplace of Naval Aviation" by resolution of the House Armed Services Committee.

The Naval Amphibious Base was renamed in 1946, although it had been in operation as the Amphibious Training Base since 1943. It is host to thirty commands including the headquarters for the Naval Special Warfare Command, a second echelon command that is headquarters for America's elite maritime special operations forces - the U.S. Navy SEALs and Special Warfare Combatant Craft Crewmen.