The fictional Darkstar’s lines evoke two other Lockheed Martin aircraft: the SR-71 Blackbird and the Lockheed Martin F-35. [Courtesy: Lockheed Martin]
Key Takeaways:
Lockheed Martin Skunk Works played a significant role in *Top Gun: Maverick*, designing the conceptual Darkstar hypersonic aircraft depicted in the film.
The Darkstar is a hyper-realistic fictional aircraft, drawing inspiration from Lockheed Martin's real-world designs like the SR-71 Blackbird.
While the Mach 10 speed achieved by the Darkstar in the movie is currently fictional, Lockheed Martin is actively working on hypersonic technology that could one day make reusable hypersonic vehicles possible.
Lockheed Martin provided extensive technical expertise, design, and consultation to Paramount Pictures to ensure a high degree of realism in the Darkstar's portrayal and flight sequences.
This line is uttered in Top Gun Maverick when Capt. Pete “Maverick” Mitchell achieves Mach 10 in the Darkstar—a reusable hypersonic, piloted aircraft that is ostensibly a creation of Lockheed Martin Skunk Works—note the Lockheed Martin logo of the Skunk on the tail of the aircraft in the movie.
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Meg Godlewski has been an aviation journalist for more than 24 years and a CFI for more than 20 years. If she is not flying or teaching aviation, she is writing about it. Meg is a founding member of the Pilot Proficiency Center at EAA AirVenture and excels at the application of simulation technology to flatten the learning curve. Follow Meg on Twitter @2Lewski.
