What aircraft appear in the movie Top Gun: Maverick?

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What aircraft can be seen during the new movie Top Gun: Maverick? Today we tell you what they are and their main characteristics.

Post written by: Captain Rudolph Star
FAA Commercial Pilot
Twitter: @rodo_estrella

One of the most anticipated films of the year has finally been released, since we waited for her from the 2020, and has brought a lot of feedback on its plot, realization, fiction and also about the aircraft that we could see in it.

maybe top gun: Maverick you didn't like it, being a very personal matter of taste, what we want to talk about today is about the different aircraft that we could see. Yes indeed, if you haven't seen the movie yet, here are spoilers, you are warned.

Aircraft seen Top Gun: Maverick

We are going to get into the matter and here we give you a challenge, can you list all the aircraft you were able to identify? Write it on the side and then compare it with the list that comes next and let us know how it went.

Boeing F-18E Super Hornet

Definitely the star of the movie.. "Maverick" flies the main fighter-bomber of US naval aviation: The fourth-generation F-18 Super Hornet multirole fighter that began its career as the F-18 Hornet entering active duty in the United States military as a replacement for the veteran "Defender of the Fleet" Grumman F-14 Tomcat in 1996, but by the end of the century, the American military had planned an extensive modification of the original Hornet. To politically not generate controversy by creating a completely new project, it was decided to keep the Hornet name. Even though the Super Hornet is a totally different aircraft than the original, for that reason the denomination “Super” Hornet being a 20% larger, heavier, with 30% more fuel capacity and in-flight refueling capability. As well as advanced radar equipment, state-of-the-art electronic countermeasures and weapons control.

General characteristics:

• Empty weight: 14.500 kg.
• maximum takeoff weight: 35.000 kg,
• Maximum speed: Mach 1.6 (1.915 km/h)
• Maximum service ceiling: 50.000 pies.
• armament: one 20mm M61 Vulcan rotary cannon. 11 external mounts for air-to-air missiles, area-area, cruise missiles, anti-radiation missiles, anti-ship missiles, free fall bombs and smart bombs. O 5 external fuel tanks for additional range.

Lockheed-Martin F-35C Lightning II

Entering service in 2006 In the United States armed forces, the F-35 is a fifth-generation "Stealth" fighter whose origins date back to the JSF or "Joint Strike Fighter" program whose objective was to replace a series of combat aircraft by combining their capabilities in a single aircraft. for the use of the United States and its strategic allies and to complement the operation of the F-22 Raptor front-line fighter.

For this they were created 3 distinct variants originally serving the Marina branches, Air Force and Marine Corps, with similar qualities and abilities, with the big difference in that the F-35 that serves the Marine Corps has the capability of vertical takeoff and landing.

The F-35, although it does not play a major role in the film, he can be seen in some excellent shots operating on aircraft carriers.

General characteristics:

• Empty weight: 13.290 kg.
• maximum takeoff weight: 32.000 kg-
• Maximum speed: Mach 1.6 (1.976 km/h)
• Maximum service ceiling: 50.000 pies.
• armament: a 25mm GAU-20 rotary cannon., 4 internal weapons bay mounts plus 6 external supports for a total load of 18.000 lb. In weapons in combinations ranging from air to air missiles, air to surface missiles, anti-ship missiles, laser guided smart bombs, glide bombs and tactical nukes up to 1 megaton of power.

SR-72 Darkstar

"Maverick" begins the film as a test pilot of an experimental plane called Darkstar., although it is a product of fiction, it's not exaggerated at all, The United States has been developing high-performance experimental aircraft for many years.. In charge of the “Skunk Works” division of Lockheed-Martin, between myths and rumors it is believed that experimental aircraft capable of hypersonic speeds have been tested as shown in the film, in fact, for the true “AvGeek” we can see the Skunk Works logo on one of the plane's vertical stabilizers.

Another interesting detail is that this aircraft uses two different types of propellants., two turbojets that are capable of carrying the ship from 0 at supersonic speeds and two "Scramjets" that without moving parts need a supersonic flow of air to start operating and take the Darkstar to incredible Mach 10 (12.250 km/h). These engines of course, they are not part of fiction but have already been concepts tested in various aircraft prototypes such as NASA's X-43 in the study of hypervelocity flights.

Many of these projects, in addition to being extremely advanced, are top secret and it is believed that many of them were or are being tested at the Nevada Test and Training Range., popularly known as the mysterious Area-51.

Grumman F-14 Tomcat

The Tomcat, the plane we all loved in the first movie, the one that led Maverick to glory shooting down MIGs and taking pictures of them inverted, returns with many pleasant surprises in the new movie.

The veteran F-14 that left service in the United States armed forces in 2006, it was a product of what the United States Air Force learned in the Vietnam War, where fighters like the F-4 Phantom were equipped only with missiles for distant combat, believing that the existence of the guided missile made it unnecessary to equip fighter planes with cannons or machine guns for "dogfighting". Vietnam proved otherwise when they faced subsonic Soviet fighters, but with heavy cannon armament like the Mig-15 and Mig-17 as well as the supersonic Mig-19 and Mig-21. That's why in 1970 Grumman F-14 Tomcat heavy fighter-bomber arrives. Whose initial purpose was to be a carrier-based heavy fighter tasked with defending the surface fleet.. Its most outstanding feature was that of being the sole operator of the extremely powerful long-range Air-to-Air missile AIM-54 Phoenix..

With an innovative design with its striking variable geometry wings and state-of-the-art technology for the decade, the supply of cannons for the "dogfight" was reintroduced and pilots trained in that art of fighting lost since the second world war.

Although the Tomcat was withdrawn from service by USA, this has a curious history of when the Kingdom of Iran, which in the 70's was an ally of the US, received some F-14 to face the Soviet threat in charge of the Mig-25. Today Iran is considered a country hostile to the interests of the United States., but it is the only active operator that still flies the F-14 very restrictively since the United States does not send spare parts and jealously guards its retired fighters in storage so that there is no smuggling of parts to Iran.

General characteristics:

• Empty weight: 19.800 kg.
• maximum takeoff weight: 33.700 kg-
• Maximum speed: Mach 2.34 (2.485 km/h)
• Maximum service ceiling: 53.000 pies.
• armament: one 20mm M61 Vulcan rotary cannon. 10 external mounts for air-to-air missiles, until 28 LAU rockets, airborne tactical reconnaissance systems, and two external tanks 1000 liters each. Laser-guided smart bombs, cluster bombs and free fall bombs. Total combat load capacity: 14.520 lb.

Northrop-Grumman E-2 Hawkeye

Although for many in a minor role, this interesting plane appears giving support to the fighters in flight alerting them of the presence of enemies in the area. The E-2 is a medium turboprop capable of carrying AWACS early warning radar equipment with an incredible ability to track up to 2000 targets simultaneously and control the interception of up to 40 targets in flight, his conspicuous disc-shaped radar antenna that he carries "on his back" and rotates at 3 revolutions per minute can cover an area of ​​up to 25 million square kilometers. And it covers spaces up to the surface where on-board radars cannot “see”.

The E-2 is considered the “eyes of the fleet” and on missions it is usually the first aircraft to take off and the last to land to maintain continuous surveillance of everything around the fleet.. Its tactical importance is reflected in the film alerting our heroes of enemy presence.

General characteristics:

• Empty weight: 40.200. lb.
• maximum takeoff weight: 57.500 lb.
• Maximum speed: 350 knots (650 km/h)
• Maximum service ceiling: 34.700 pies.
• Equipment: APS-145 UHF High Power Doppler Radar

North American P-51D Mustang

Maverick appears to be the private owner of a wonderful "Cadillac of the Skies," a WWII North American P-51D Mustang, and is seen working on it to keep it in excellent condition..

The P-51 has its origins in World War II when the English allies sought to add the Curtiss P-40 Warhawk to their forces, however the production of the Curtiss was at its maximum, delivering aircraft to all the United States fronts, so it was He began to look for other manufacturers, finding North American, which convinced its buyers to develop a new aircraft capable of facing the most modern German fighters and bombers..

For the British to accept there was the condition that the project be developed in only 120 days what was an incredible challenge that managed to successfully complete the North American, encountering delays only because the engines were not ready yet.

speaking of engines, the Mustang has one of the finest aircraft engines of all time, El Rolls-Royce Merlin.

The P-51D version that we see in the film was its most advanced development, with its characteristic bubble-shaped cabin, powerful weaponry was on par or rather superior to its Axis enemies. The Mustang in its D version. It was much loved by the bomber squadrons that raided to bomb Germany as it was the only fighter that could escort them due to its unbeatable range. 2.755 kilometers with external fuel tanks.

He served in many theaters of war and in later conflicts such as the Korean War excelling in ground attack.

A curious fact about the film is that the Mustang we see, real number plate N51EW belongs to the actor Tom Cruise.

General characteristics:

• Empty weight: 7603 lb.
• maximum takeoff weight: 12.000 lb
• Maximum speed: 703 km/h.
• Maximum service ceiling: 42.000 pies.
• armament: 6 12.7mm Browning machine guns, 3 on each wing, capacity to load 2000 pounds of bombs or 10 rockets of 127 mm at wing supports.

Sukhoi SU-57 "Felon"

Maverick's most feared adversary, the fighter-bomber they don't want to face and the Super Hornet doesn't stand a chance, It is the advanced Sukhoi SU-57 fifth-generation fighter-bomber, the latest development and the first entirely stealth fighter of Russian aviation, Its main characteristic is that of super-maneuverability outside the limits of aerodynamics, which is demonstrated in the film when it performs the famous “Cobra” maneuver, driving the fans and obviously our friend Maverick crazy..

In addition to its aerodynamic characteristics, the “Felon” is also characterized by a fierce combat charge, capable of simultaneously facing up to 16 multiple targets and track up 60 targets at ranges up to 400 kilometers thanks to its powerful Byelka radar. Being able to engage with countless types of modern missiles including hypersonic weapons such as the super long range Vympel R37 missile.

General characteristics:

• Empty weight: 39.983 lb.
• maximum takeoff weight: 77.162 lb.
• Maximum speed: Mach 2. (2.135 km/h). o Mach 1.3 (1400 km/h) in super cruise mode.
• Maximum service ceiling: 66.000 pies.
• armament: un autocañón Gryazev-Shipunov de 30mm. 6 internal weapons bay mounts and 6 external mounts for weaponry including air-to-air missiles, air to surface missiles, antibuque missiles, anti-radiation missiles, hypersonic missiles, smart bombs or freefall 250, 500 And till 1000 lb.

Mil-Mi 24 “Hind”

One of the most tense moments in the film is when Maverick comes face to face against "El Carro del Diablo". The dreaded Mil-Mi heavy helicopter 24 “Hind”.

Developed during the 1990s 60, the Soviet military sees the need for a "gunship" or artillery aircraft with also a small troop transport capacity, capable of assisting these troops with heavy weapons with the idea of ​​a great mobility of these. For this, an extremely powerful and robust helicopter was designed, with armored propeller blades and titanium armor for the pilots

Despite being a "flying tank" the MI-24 is fast, was designed to be aerodynamically very efficient, with fine lines and with retractable landing gear. One of its most interesting features is that it has two small wings at an anhedral angle.. In addition to generating considerable lift, they serve as an anchor for countless weapons., which gives it an intimidating image that undoubtedly transmits it in the film.

further, what would a gunship be without a powerful cannon?, the MI-24 has a very showy rotary cannon of 4 tubes mounted on a mobile front turret capable of aiming in multiple directions. More modern versions can even carry hulking 23mm cannons mounted on side pods..

General characteristics:

• Empty weight: 18.739 lb.
• maximum takeoff weight: 23.455 lb.
• Maximum speed: 335 km/h.
• main rotor diameter: 17.3m.
• Maximum service ceiling: 16.100 pies.
• armament: a rotating autocannon of 4 12.7mm tubes. Yakushev-Borzov. Side mount one 30mm twin tube cannon. Possibility of mounting double autocannons 20 mm. in mobile turret. Fixed anchors in passenger windows for man-portable machine guns. External anchors for 3300 lb. Of weaponry that can include free fall bombs, rockets, mine dispensers, o additional detachable cannons as well as anti-tank missiles.

You already watched the movie? Tell me in the comments what you think…

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