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 collaborated with Paramount Pictures to design the fictional Mach 10 "Darkstar" hypersonic aircraft for *Top Gun: Maverick*, providing technical expertise and ensuring realism.
The Darkstar, while a hyper-realistic movie concept inspired by existing Lockheed Martin aircraft, represents a future Reusable Hypersonic Vehicle for which the company is actively laying the foundation through current work.
Lockheed Martin's involvement extended to designing a functional cockpit, advising on flight gear and set artifacts, and serving as consultants to drive realism into the storyline, aiming to inspire future engineers.
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.
CREATE A FREE ACCOUNT
Sign up to keep reading
Create a free account to continue. Already a member? Sign in below.
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.
