Military aviation experts note that the ‘Darkstar’ hypersonic jet in Tom Cruise’s latest movie, “Top Gun: Maverick,” might offer a sneak peek at what might be the SR-72 – the super-secret experimental spy plane under development by Lockheed Martin. (RELATED: ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ – Movie Irks China by Bringing Back Taiwan and Japan Flags on Flight Jacket)
To help director Joseph Kosinski and Paramount Pictures, engineers from Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works partnered with the Top Gun production team to design what might be a variant of their hypersonic SR-72 plane with a few modifications to make it look even cooler on the big screen as both a full-sized physical mock-up and an airborne CGI version.
According to The Drive, “Lockheed Martin has given us a more complete look at the full-size mockup of the fictional Darkstar hypersonic aircraft” used in the movie:
… views of the mockup are contained in a behind-the-scenes video featurette, seen below, which Lockheed Martin released yesterday. This follows the company posting a trio of videos online, along with a complete website, that offered new details about Skunk Works’ involvement in creating Darkstar last week.
The Drive adds:
“We based the design on the fastest aircraft, the SR-71 [Blackbird], which Lockheed built in the 1960s. The team wanted to go beyond that.” Top Gun: Maverick’s director Joseph Kosinski says in the video. “We integrated their Skunk Works designers with our designers on the film side.”
“There’s no way we could have done Darkstar the way we did without their help,” Kosinski explains.
“Through their design team, we learned how to make the plane look angry, mean, insanely fast,” Jeremy Hindle, the film’s Production Designer, adds. “We lowered it a little bit. It also made it look a little sleeker and faster.”
“The cockpit was mindblowing. …you really wanted to believe that it was real,” Hindle continues.
Conceptual renderings of the SR-72 released over the past few years bear striking resemblance to the ‘Darkstar’ and speculations have swarmed around it since the $170 million film went into pre-production way back in 2017.
In real-life, the SR-72 has yet to officially take its first flight, which is due to occur sometime next year. (RELATED: China’s Hypersonic Spaceplane Nuke Based on Old Chinese American’s Design for NASA)
It has been rumored that the plane would have an advanced propulsion system revolving around a turbine-based combined cycle, which is the fusion of a modified fighter turbine engine with a dual-mode ramjet.
This type of hybrid engine would launch the Darkstar jet towards the heavens at the staggering speed of 4,600 miles per hour.
For now, “Top Gun: Maverick” is just a cool movie, but sometime next year the world may see the real ‘Darkstar’ hypersonic jet. And that will be even cooler. ALD
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The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of American Liberty News.
Paul Crespo is the Managing Editor of American Liberty Defense News. As a Marine Corps officer, he led Marines, served aboard ships in the Pacific and jumped from helicopters and airplanes. He was also a military attaché with the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) at U.S. embassies worldwide. He later ran for state and federal office, taught political science, wrote for the editorial board of a major newspaper and had his own radio show. A graduate of Georgetown, London and Cambridge universities, he brings decades of experience and insight to the issues that most threaten our American liberty – at home and from abroad. To read more go to: paulcrespo.com.
Concept unless DoD says otherwise
They haven’t.
Pfft! A single mock up of a wet dream is NOT a counter for dozens of Russian and CCP Hypersonic and Hyperglide missiles that were deployed last year!
WHY ARE WE GOING DEEPER INTO STUPIDITY?
I have tried to alert my congress members, as well as editorializing the seriousness of continuing in the mire of Absurdity. Being led by our current President, America is increasingly being polarized by voices that agitate and caustically arouse emotions through an exaggerated narrative provoking anger, hostility, and suspicions. Below is a list of “terrible blunders” that he has led this nation into during the past 500 days. This public disagreement is contributing to an atmosphere of polarization in our nation. It is being further used to stir the black community’s sensitivities. This appears to be an engineered attempt to drive yet another wedge deep into the heart of America. The stakes of divisiveness are high because they can determine the current and still-to-come generations of Americans of all cultures. Looking at the record of “blunders” we take the position that the good of our country is not furthered by gossip, innuendo, and simply “lying” and illegalities.
It is beyond my comprehension why the top leader of a nation, as great as America, would publicly announce that he would deliberately destroy capitalistic Organizations in order to force his personal whims and desires on a nation of over 350 million people. That is deeper that stupidity, it is gross ignorance, and complete insanity! In addition to destroying the backbone of this industrialized nation, he is simultaneously destroying the amalgamation of food providers for, not only this nation, but other nations on this planet by intentionally causing food preparation operation to have to CEASE because of $1,000,000 fertilizer costs per season, and unattainable farm machinery operations because of enormously high fuel costs. This is pure insanity and most likely illegal!! Below is a list of the gigantic realistic Blunders that is tearing this nation apart:
1. Stop the Oil Flow – Everyone in our current Federal Department of Energy know for a fact that this nation has the availability of enough oil to last another 400 years. The other oil producing nations in this world know that fact also – the reason that they are not interested in furnishing the USA their own oil!! There are also over 100 items of daily existence that are made out of some part of the Oil supply. TRY KEEPING YOUR FOOD CHILLED TODAY WITHOUT THE USE OF OIL PARTS TO MAKE REFRIGERATORS!
2. Give our Medicine Secrets away – Even though America invested billions of dollars while our adversaries did nothing, the UN thinks the invaluable trade secrets behind our most recent vaccines are theirs for the taking. Team Biden is ready to hand Russia and China vaccine technology – free of charge. I believe this too is illegal, as it would also undermine our National Security.
3. Invoke the Defense Production Act to make Solar Panels and Electric Transportation vehicles. Misuse of the Defense Production Act- Passed to be utilized on emergency actions during “Threat” to our country is also illegal!! The Biden team also know that around half of the people in this nation barely make enough money in an entire year to pay for an Electric Automobile- ($56,000 EV). Neither can normal citizens of America afford the average electric car monthly payments: $744
4. We already have a Border crisis. Not only is the Biden Team allowing illegals by the Caravans to enter this nation, they are actually assisting them in transportation to all parts of our country. TOTALLY ILLEGAL OPERATIONS. This chaos comes as the leaders of Mexico and other Central American countries are openly snubbing Both President Biden and VP Harris.
5. President Biden is asleep at the wheel as Inflation just hit an ALL TIME HIGH – 8.6% with help from massive government spending!
I have always been taught that when Chaos exists, it is better to face head on IMMEDIATELY AND CORRECT. You cannot wait until a NEW TEAM ARRIVES, WHICH MAY BE too late!!! This is exactly what is happening in our nation TODAY.
Dale Bain
Millbrook, AL
It wasn’t air force, it was Navy and no secrets were revealed. The SR72 is a conceptual drawing, used for a CGI plane at the start of the movie. It was funny though, when he asked where he was and the little kid said “earth”.