The Top Gun: Maverick, the second part of the Top Gun series starring Hollywood megastar Tom Cruise, has been released after a long delay. The film is a sequel to the 1986 hit Top Gun and was well received at the box office. The film is getting good response from cinema lovers across the world. However, it is ready to be enjoyed with many of the fighter jets featured in the film ranging from an old jet to an experimental stealth plane touching the speed of Mach 10. There is even an attack helicopter in the film, which depicts the lives of US Navy pilots piloting fighter jets from the ships of the USS Naval. A look at the planes featured in the movie Top Gun: Maverick
SR-71 Blackbird based SR-72
Early in the film, Tom Cruise visits a secret test facility, flying a stealth plane that looks like the famous Lockheed Martin’s SR-71 “Blackbird”. However, Tom Cruise is tasked with hitting a speed of Mach 10 on an aircraft called Darkstar, and the SR-71 was designed to go to Mach 3+. For starters, Mach means the speed of sound (1200 kmph) and 10 Mach means 12000 kmph. For reference, the fastest operational fighter jet can go up to Mach 2.5 (3000 kmph).
The SR-71 was a long-range, high-altitude, tactical reconnaissance aircraft developed and manufactured in the US and operated by both the United States Air Force and NASA. Reports say that the aircraft in the film is the SR-72, often referred to as the “Son of Blackbeard”, and is a hypersonic UAV based on the SR-71.
Also read: Top Gun: Maverick actor Tom Cruise can fly fighter jets and helicopters – watch video
F-14 Tomcat
Tom Cruise, in the 1986 hit Top Gun, was seen flying a Grumman F-14 Tomcat. Now, the F-14 is returning in “Top Gun: Maverick”, albeit for a short time, but for a very important role, fighting against the fifth generation fighter Sukhoi Su-57. The F-14 was widely considered to be the best fighter jet during the Cold War with a top speed of Mach 2.3, capable of carrying multiple warheads. Although it sounds unrealistic, the F-14 did manage to outshine two Sukhoi Su-57s in the new movie and you have to see it to believe it.
F-35C
Another Lockheed Martin-built aircraft, the F-35 is often considered the most advanced and most expensive fighter jet of our time. If it’s a Navy movie, it can’t be neglected to showcase the F-35C, the Navy version developed to fly from a Navy carrier. Don’t confuse it with the F-35B which has vertical take-off and landing capabilities. On the other hand, the F-35A is developed for the USAF.
Although the F-35C is not depicted performing any action or flying sequences, it is a substantial part of the USS Abraham Lincoln fleet, where “Top Gun: Maverick” was shot. Stealth planes have a larger wing area and stronger landing gear than their sister jets. The F-35A is for the USAF, the F-35B is used by the Marine Corps and the F-35C is for Navy ships.
F/A-18E Super Hornet
Tom Cruise was featured as an F-14 pilot in the 1986 film, but the fighter jet was retired in 2006. As a result, Maverick was asked to follow the stick of the Navy’s F/A-18E Super Hornet developed by Boeing. There’s a 20% larger airframe with 41% more range and an improved General Electric F414 engine (upgrade over the Hornet’s F404), which provides 35% more thrust. As you know, Boeing is rolling out the F-18 for the Indian Air Force and many see the film as a soft push to the company’s agenda of highlighting the planes as better fighter jets than others. looking in.
Now this fighter jet surprised everyone because no one expected that the fifth generation Sukhoi Su-57 made in Russia would make its cinema debut like this. The “Top Gun: Maverick” crew will be seen competing against the Sukhoi Su-57, the NATO reporting name Phelan. Now before you rejoice, the two Sukhoi-57s featured in the film are actually a CGI recreation. Russia would not have lent its most advanced Su-57 to the film. In total in Russia there are only 14 of them.
You have to go and see the movie, but the fifth generation fighter jet was no match for the Cold War-era F-14, because ‘it’s the pilot, not the machine’, as Tom Cruise says in the film. To give the filmmakers some credit for not making it counterfeit, the Su-57 is considered one of the worst 5th-gen fighter jets by US-based military experts, stating that its capability was similar to that of Maverick’s own new fighter. The F/A-18 is on par with the Super. Hornet.
P-51 Mustang
Tom Cruise is a trained pilot and can fly almost all types of aircraft, from helicopters to fighter jets (if not advanced). He himself owns a vintage P-51 Mustang, which he featured in “Top Gun: Maverick.” The World War II-era fighter plane is in perfect shape and is being flown repeatedly by cruise. He also featured on the plane in an episode of The Late Night Show with James Corden.
The plane cost between $2.5 and $4 million and was gifted to Tom by his then-wife, Katie Holmes. The North American P-51 Mustang first took to the skies in 1940, and served with the British Royal Air Force in 1942.