“Dark Star”
Photographed with spy satellites: China is said to have thought Tom Cruise’s hypersonic jet from “Top Gun 2” was real
The hypersonic jet from “Top Gun 2” is even said to have fooled the Chinese
© Music Video / PR
The arms race for hypersonic technology is in full swing. A story about the wrong jet from a new Hollywood film shows how great the pressure is. The fact that China thought it was genuine is probably no coincidence.
There is probably no current technology that is believed to be as transformative in military circles as hypersonic rockets and jets. Those who can attack their targets at multiples of the speed of sound leave their opponents almost no time to react. So it is not surprising that the Chinese military became nervous when a supposed prototype of a stealth hypersonic jet suddenly appeared in the USA. Even if it was only on the film set of “Top Gun 2”.
The jet called Darkstar, which Tom Cruse pilots in his role as Maverick in the second part of the action hit, is said to have attracted attention from the Chinese, the film producer revealed to aviation blogger Alex Hollings. “The US Navy told him that China even diverted spy satellites to get photos of it. They thought it was a real experimental aircraft,” Hollings said on Twitter.
Armor experts on the set
This is less absurd than it might sound at first. Because: The set designers of the action strip about the top pilot Maverick, who is coming back from retirement as a teacher and is starting in May, did not come up with the superjet in the film completely on their own. They received help from Skunk Works for the design, Lockheed Martin defense company CEO James Taiclet confirmed to Linked.in while attending a preview of the film. Behind Skunk Works is nothing less than the armor giant’s secretive high-tech development department. So the film crew had help from the very people who might be working on future hypersonic projects for the US military.
In fact, there are quite a number of similarities to well-known projects, the specialist blog “The Drive” notes. The jet shown in the film is strongly reminiscent of teasers for the company’s long-awaited SR-72 hypersonic project, which has been in development since 2016. A tweet from a Lockheed spokesman also suggests this. You can see a sneak preview of the flight device in the film, he teased. However, the project is not a manned aircraft, but an extremely fast-flying remote-controlled drone.
Even the name “Darkstar” should have been an indication of the company’s involvement. In the late 1990s, a Lockheed reconnaissance drone bore the name.
How much PR is behind it?
Whether the story about the Chinese spy satellites is true or whether it is ultimately a matter of PR cannot be independently verified. Most of the Darkstar’s recordings appear to have been done on the computer, according to The Drive. But because it is quite conceivable that there were also life-size models on the set, there could be something to it. It wouldn’t be the first time: When Stanley Kubrick used a fake B-52 bomber on the set of “Dr. Strangelove”, even the US Air Force is said to have been shocked at how real it looked.
Incidentally, there is a good look at the Darkstar jet in a place where you would not expect it: the jet also appears prominently in Lady Gaga’s new music video. The song is part of the film soundtrack.