Every Fighter Jet Featured in Top Gun: Maverick’s Trailer

The latest trailer for Top Gun: Maverick features a number of real-life fighter jets. But what do these specific jets bring to the table?

Top Gun: Maverick is a direct sequel to Top Gun, and will hit theaters 34-years after the original debuted in 1986. Directed by Joseph Kosinski, Top Gun 2 marks the return of Cruise’s LT Pete “Maverick” Mitchell, a hotshot Navy pilot with a need for speed who trained at Top Gun, the Naval Fighter Weapons School at Naval Air Station Miramar.

Here is the list of fighter jets that are featured in Top Gun: Maverick’s Trailer

SR-72-ish Hypersonic Aircraft 

The final moments of the latest Top Gun: Maverick trailer sees the boisterous Navy pilot man an impressive, shockwave-sending aircraft – but what kind of jet is it? It looks very SR-72-ish.

The computer-generated stealthy experimental hypersonic aircraft whose presence in the sequel was exposed by the shots taken on set showing Capt. Pete “Maverick” Mitchell wearing an all-black high-altitude pressure suit similar to the actual ones worn by high altitude reconnaissance pilots in aircraft like the U-2 and SR-71, along with the patch of a possible hypersonic aircraft test program.

The plane has a spade-like figure, stubby wings, and two visible air intakes. So while Paramount has confirmed that Tom Cruise had undergone fighter plane training, the studio has not confirmed what kind of plane it is. From the looks of it, however, and, thanks to several hints throughout the trailers, it may very possibly be the mysterious SR-72 hypersonic spy plane. See details: Link

Russia’s Su-57 5th-generation fighter

A brief scene from the newly released trailer for Top Gun: Maverick shows Bradley ‘Rooster’ Bradshaw – the son of slain original character Nick ‘Goose’ Bradshaw from the iconic 1986 film –  in a US Air force F-14 Tomcat while a Russian SU-57 rockets past.

There’s a very brief sequence from the cockpit of an F-14, with the RIO, Lt. Bradley ‘Rooster’ Bradshaw, looking back over their shoulder as a Su-57 maneuvers hard, pirouetting above them nose down in a post-stall thrust-vectoring maneuver. The main protagonist, Tom Cruise’s Capt. Pete ‘Maverick’ Mitchell, is presumably sitting in the front seat.

It seems all but likely that “Top Gun: Maverick” will paint the Su-57 as a formidable foe, potentially even a straight-up over-match for Maverick and co’s F/A-18 Super Hornets. This would be perfectly in keeping with popular perceptions of this aircraft, even if not necessarily in keeping with the Felon’s mediocre reality. See details: Link

F/A-18 Super Hornet

Maverick’s new ride is a F/A-18 Super Hornet. Maverick’s original aircraft, the F-14 Tomcat, became iconic for fans. But with the fighter being retired in 2006, he’s now updated to a F/A-18E Super Hornet. While the F-14 is significantly faster, the Super Hornet is far more modernized and cost-efficient, greatly improving the pilot’s survivability. With updated weapons systems and longer airtime, this U.S. strike-fighter also makes for an impressive ally. See details: Link

F-14 Tomcat

F-14 Tomcat retired in 2006 but the Tom Cruise reunited with an F-14 Tomcat on a snowy set in Tahoe In ‘Top Gun 2’. Legendary F-14 Tomcat was spotted on top gun set that was being towed into the Tahoe area and was indeed intended for the production, with shots emerging of Cruise and the production crew crawling over the retired fighter.

The Tomcat is back aboard an operational supercarrier for the first time in over a decade which is bound to warm the hearts of many who remain superfans of Grumman’s swing-wing Fleet Defender.

Lockheed Martin F-35

“Top Gun: Maverick” will very likely feature the Lockheed Martin F-35C. While not featured in the trailer, Paramount film crews have been seen working with another U.S. fighter — the Lockheed Martin F-35C. This aircraft specializes in stealth and air support, being one of the hardest fighter jets to detect. But what really makes the F-35C really shine is the modern onboard computer systems. With sensors pulling constant data from the surrounding land, sea, air and enemy aircraft, this fighter offers better situational awareness than any other tactical aircraft to date.