The hypersonic jet featured in the new Top Gun movie was developed by legendary US aircraft manufacturers and may depict a top secret stealth jet.
Lockheed Martin Corporation CEO James Taiclet confirmed that Skunk Works, the company’s secretive development arm, worked with the producers of the upcoming Top Gun: Maverick movie starring Tom Cruise, TheDrive.com reported.
The manufacturers helped create the design for the fictional Darkstar hypersonic jet which looks to be based off of renderings of the highly anticipated SR-72 hypersonic jet.
In a LinkedIn post, Taiclet said members of the Skunk Works team ‘partnered with Top Gun’s producers to bring cutting-edge, future forward technology to the big screen’ and referenced ‘critical work in hypersonic flight’
And in an April tweet, Lockheed Martin executive John Neilson posted that the Darkstar jet could provide a ‘sneaky peak at what might be the Lockheed Martin SR-72.’
The SR-72 is currently being developed by Lockheed Martin in California, and according to the company’s website they say the plane could be operational as early as 2030.
It is the successor of the SR-71 which broke speed records when it flew from New York to London in less than two hours in 1976.
Skunk Works is known for its stealthy work; it created the first US spy plane, as well as the the fast Blackbird and, later on, the stealth jet.
Lockheed Martin’s Hypersonics program manager Brad Leland wrote that the plane is designed to ‘strike at nearly any location across a continent in less than an hour.’
‘Speed is the next aviation advancement to counter emerging threats in the next several decades. The technology would be a game-changer in theater, similar to how stealth is changing the battlespace today,’ Leland said.
The jet is expected to be around the same size as an F-22 and powered by a full-scale, combined cycle engine.
Envisioned as an unmanned aircraft, the SR-72 would fly at speeds up to Mach 6, or six times the speed of sound, Lockheed Martin has said previously.
At this speed, the aircraft would be so fast, an adversary would have no time to react or hide.
Hypersonic jets, flying at up to Mach 5, or 3,800 mph, could allow passengers to dramatically cut journey times.
For example, a commercial flight from New York to Shanghai currently takes about 15 hours – but at hypersonic speeds, could take two.