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| 4 Fighter Planes That Are In The Movie 'Top Gun: Maverick' |
International Military - This military-themed blockbuster has become the talk of our society. Imagine, the film, starring the famous actor Tom Cruise, is predicted to be the highest-grossing film he has ever starred in. Top Gun: Maverick is a sequel to 1986's Top Gun, in which Maverick a.k.a Tom Cruise flies the original fighter plane. Both the original Top Gun 1986 and Top Gun: Maverick, the Pentagon exerted significant influence by lending its warplanes.
Still following the lives of elite aviators from the US Navy, the key aspect of this film is the training scenes, the attack missions of the fighter aircraft. Despite presenting a fictional fighter plane called the Darkstar, a manned prototype with mach 10 is unlikely this decade.
Top Gun: Maverick deliberately shows four iconic fighter planes with original roles and abilities like in the real world. Here are four fighter planes in the film Top Gun: Maverick quoted from Military Watch Magazine
F-18E/F Super Hornet
That is the main star in Top Gun: Maverick, in this film deployed on a mission to destroy enemy nuclear facilities. In the real world, the Super Hornet is the largest operating fleet for an aircraft carrier-based navy.
The Super Hornet was for several years the only fourth-generation fighter the Pentagon ordered, apart from the F-16 and F-15. There are already 32 squadrons of F-18E/F fighters in service in the US Navy, along with the F-35Cs making up the entire fleet.
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The Super Hornet became popular with navies after the end of the Cold War due to its relatively low operating costs and maintenance requirements. The US Navy also specializes this fighter for electronic attack or EW missions with the F-18G (Growler). This brings the total US Navy operating both Super Hornet and Growler to 48 or 768 airframes. And no navy in the world runs more F-18s than the US fleet.
The unique fact here is that the F-18's ability is below the F-14 Tomcat, and why is the F-18 maintained. Although the F-18 carries a much smaller radar and no more powerful armament than the Tomcat. Again, as explained above, the operational and maintenance costs of the F-18 or Super Hornet are relatively cheaper.
Su-57 Felon
The only Felon who doesn't come from the US, this fifth generation fighter is Russian-made and becomes the antagonist in Top Gun: Maverick. And keep in mind, the fifth generation fighter aircraft development program is strictly confidential by the country of origin. So, the Su-57 Felon in this film, both in terms of ability and appearance, cannot be guaranteed to be authentic.
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Even in Top Gun: Maveick, Felon reliably provides air defense and skillfully dodges enemy attacks. In the real world, the Su-57 Felon's capabilities are highly appreciated by India, Algeria and Vietnam, a modern fighter widely recognized for its best at low speed, and high maneuverability.
The Su-57 Felon was originally expected to enter service with the Russian Air Force in 2015, and has secured export orders by the end of the decade. Despite the fact that there are still many delays in Felon's development shown with Russia not having it even to fill a full squadron.
F-14 Tomcat
A major star in the 1986 original Top Gun, the Tomcat is one of the most iconic US fighters to have flown. The F-14 plays a key role in the film and is flown in most air-to-air combat. The Tomcat was retired by the US Navy in 2006. An interesting fact that can be taken from the film Top Gun: Maverick is Tom Cruise who plays Maverick steals an Iranian F-14 after his F-18 is shot down. It is interesting that indeed in the real world, the only country still operating the F-14 Tomcat is the Iranian Air Force.
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The F-14 is highly regarded for its long-range air-to-air capability, which was dominant during the Cold War. Although it has been heavily modified, one of the Tomcat's most crucial drawbacks is its weight, making it extremely difficult to maneuver.
F-35C Lightning II
The F-35C joined the US Navy in 2019, shortly before the first Top Gun trailer was released. In the film Top Gun: Maverick, the ability to attack and defend is not as good as that of the F-18 Super Hornet. And indeed that is the reality, the F-35C still has very limited combat "applications", the level of availability of weapons is poor, because he is still relatively "young". Very unsuitable for high-to-medium-intensity missions, there are reportedly still 800 defects in it.
So the Pentagon refused to agree to produce it on a full scale, although this still applies to all three variants of the F-35 (A/B/C). Although the Fighter has considerable potential, as the Super Hornet was developed as a low-cost, single-engine option, relatively short range, and limited flight performance, refinement of the F-35C is expected to take years.