If you have ever wondered what it’s really like to take part in the U.S. Navy’s elite “Top Gun” school, you will want to watch National Geographic’s new six-part series: Top Guns: The Next Generation.
The cameras follow a class of Navy and Marine Corps aviators as they enter the final and most “unforgiving phase of elite strike fighter training.” These “nuggets” endure six months of aerial training, physical demands, and emotional reckoning as they work to earn a slot flying the Navy’s most coveted aircraft.
According to the network, the six-week series, which premieres September 16 (9 p.m. EDT) on National Geographic and can be streamed the next day on Disney and Hulu+, goes beyond the cockpit and classroom, showing the pressures and challenges of becoming elite pilots.
Filmed with “unprecedented access,” the series takes you inside the aviators’ lives at the United States Navy Strike Fighter Tactics Instructor program, known as Top Gun. Watch as they practice bombing drills and close-range aerial dogfights and make carrier approaches and traps—often described as one of the most intensive maneuvers an aviator can attempt, because if you miss “the wire,” the “runway” can potentially run over you.
In-cockpit cameras put you in the pilot’s seat. Each episode captures the intense demands of a program that challenges the pilots’ abilities, endurance, and resolve.
- READ MORE: How to Become a Navy Pilot
Filmed by some of the creative talent behind the blockbuster film Top Gun: Maverick, the aerial sequences will leave you breathless.
Here’s a list of episodes (all at 9 p.m. EDT):
- “Strike” — September 16: One student’s dreams of becoming a fighter pilot are put in jeopardy as the class starts advanced phase training with a set of breathtaking bombing tests. Instructors deliver tough assessments in the debriefs to keep the students safe.
- “Catching the Wire” — September 23: Landing on an aircraft carrier demands precision flying and is a skill vital for all U.S. Navy fighter pilots. As the students tackle the longest and most technical section of the advanced phase, they know it’s a test they must pass to keep their dreams alive.
- “Attack Attack!” — September 30: As the students reach the midpoint of their training, they start the iconic dogfighting phase. Pitted against them are seasoned instructors with hundreds of hours of real-world experience. To pass, they must outmaneuver the enemy to take a “kill shot.”
- “Fight’s On” — October 7: As they enter the second and most challenging phase of dogfighting, everything is on the line for our students.
- “Heahd-to-Head” — October 14: The students face their final test in an iconic head-to-head dogfight against an instructor. To pass, they must bring all the skills they’ve learned during their advanced phase training. With graduation just days away, students start to worry about their final grades and whether they will get the posting they—and in many cases, their families—want.
- “Last Chance” — October 21: It’s graduation week. For the remaining students, it means they have one last chance to prove they deserve their prestigious fighter pilot wings. Standing in their way is a tense head-to-head dogfight against an instructor. Past failures come back to haunt one student, and another’s whole fighter pilot future comes down to a single flight with their commanding officer.
