‘Top Gun: Maverick’s’ Hypersonic “Darkstar” Mystery Plane Has A Real-World Relative
29.05.2022 - 02:41
/ deadline.com
SPOILER ALERT – This story contains Top Gun: Maverick plot points: In the opening moments of Top Gun: Maverick, Tom Cruise’s Capt. Pete Mitchell takes an an experimental hypersonic plane called “The Darkstar” on an unauthorized test run. Those who’ve seen the trailer — or the movie, at this point — will recall a low-flying triangular aircraft blowing past a lonely guard post on the desert floor. In a half-second, the flyby literally blows the roof off the shack.
A flash of the scene in an early behind-the-scenes trailer set the aviation blogosphere aflutter — and not just because of the mind-blowing visual. The aircraft’s unusual shape raised eyebrows. Some posited that it could be the legendary SR-71 Blackbird, once dubbed “the fastest plane ever.” Topping out at Mach 3, the high-altitude reconnaissance plane could literally outrun missiles shot at it by Russian MiGs.
Others guessed it could be something even more exotic: The near-mythical hypersonic SR-72, the Blackbird’s rumored descendant, which is designed to fly at six times the speed of sound.
Lockheed Martin had uncharacteristically announced plans for the plane in 2013. Not much more was heard about the so-called “Son of Blackbird” until Lockheed confirmed engine tests in 2017. Some reports have maintained the SR-72 could be “rolled out for initial flight demonstrations by no later than 2023.” Lockheed, in its original announcement, claimed the game-changer could be operational by 2030. Oh, and it pegged the development cost at $1 billion.
Not much more has ever been officially revealed about the SR-72. That, along with its game-changing speed, has only added to the plane’s mystique.
It was odd, then, that Lockheed CEO James Taiclet posted publicly on LinkedIn this
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