somewhere in Eastern china, some Chinese "engineers" are scratching their heads at some fuzzy photos the bosses just sent them with a note that says, "build this or else". 😆
Five, 10 years from now, we'll all look back and make videos about how Lockheed and the movie makers fooled us all by showing the real, operational Darkstar aircraft while pretending it was just a mock-up.
Well, the F-22 started development in 1989 I think and it was first flown in 1999 and then officially put into the Air Force in 2005, so yeah, if Skunk Works is giving us this, then the real thing must already be operational to some point.
You know if they are disclosing SR-72 then it's already outdated. Declassifying aircraft means its secrecy is no longer important, so they must have something better that is currently in service
Usually if the Pentagon want to report on a plane early they will blur it or release a mock-up that looks somewhat the same. SR-72 as a concept was created before the SR-71 even entered test flight.
My dad worked at Lockheed most of my life and had a "top secret" security clearance. They would send people to interview the neighbors to make sure he didn't share any secret information. He used to bring me these extremely powerful magnets they would recover from destroyed hard drives. I was a kid at the time and loved playing with them.
My dad worked on the F1-17A when it was Top Secret. He had a lot of cool stories growing up. He had a cover story and didn’t even know where he worked because it was a black site.
Jake_916_ F117 is based on the design from the Anti-Gravity Craft that crashed in Roswell according to the daughter of an Commanding Officer tasked with recovery and R&D who kept a cryptic journal. Craft came from Zeta Reticula. One survivor was code named EBE. The Triangular craft are not as advanced as the ‘flying saucers’. The Saucers are based on the Nazis reverse engineering the Vimana’s found in Tibet, Afghanistan, and India which were used by our Parent race we now call Gods in Indo-European ‘myth’. The SS search for ‘Aryan Origins’ has zero to do with white supremacy, and everything to do with the Gods. The White Supremacy label was design to memory hole the subject to prevent further discussion. Aryan in Germanic derived from Airyan in Avestan (Iranic) derived from Arya in Sanskrit (Indic) meaning Noble. Honorific title used by the Persians in particular in reference to both Buddha and the Asura/Ahura/Æsir which were the general terms referring to the Gods by region. Term God itself derived form Kho in Avestan meaning Master. Look up Shambhala and Airyanem Vaejah if you’d like. If you would like to learn more about occult history, Aryans, Atlantis, Vimana’s, and the Nazis investigation into it all, I suggest Robert Sepehr.
@@4295jake But why do they paint them black? What is the reasoning behind it? Because black paint has limited capacity in reflecting light and that makes it invisible to the human eye? What do you think is the reason for the black site?
@@Kenny-yl9pc It may be IR baffling or something. Color isn’t usually indicative of function; one of the only exceptions I know of was the reflective plating on bombers set to drop nuclear weapons during WW2.
@@hueghh3775 Hey thank you for your serious input. My comment was not serious it was a bad joke regarding his remarks on the black site. Secret military or intelligence facilities are called "black sites" and I was making fun of it by implying that it is some kind of black paint. But nevertheless thank you for your reply =)
This is NOT the first time stuff like this has happened. From the movie Stealth, the FA-37 Talon got mistaken as a real aircraft not just by foreign but domestic intelligence groups. Pictures of the full sized model on a us carrier deck, had even Janes trying to figure out if it was a real fighter. But even before that... One mock up almost lead to a war. Libya got wind of Tunisia building a large tank, hidden in the desert... overflights showed a huge tracked vehicle near the border and prompted Libya to threaten Tunisia with a pre-emptive strike and invasion if they did not pull back their... Jawa Sand Crawler. No joke, the model as not a full sand crawler, just the tracks, but it was enough to convince Libya it was some sort of military vehicle being built and positioned for a strike against them.
@@hf117j Oh yeah, they made full scale models then filmed them being raised and lowered on the carrier elevator as well as sitting on the flight deck, and on the catapult. A sailor took some pictures of it and posted it online... but didn't put context in... So poof, janes tactical information service... China, germany, and the uK instantly thought the US was sea trialing some new stealth aircraft. LOL.
Did the same with Space:Above And Beyond's. HammerHead Fighter. The same craft janes ' Revell & Popular Mechanics was in a lawsuit with the Government... AND WON... Until 9/11 Rules changed with them being raided and charged with a cease & desist.
There was a show back in the 90s called Space Above and Beyond. Essentially a near future where the US Navy and Marine Corps operated in space, etc. The workhorse of the show was the SA-58 “Hammerhead” exo-endo atmospheric fighter attack craft. The show had to create several full sized realistic mock ups for use in filming. Apparently they were so realistic that the Russians and PRC were caught snooping around and photographing them!
Just saw the movie last night in theater. First impressions of seeing the SR-72/Darkstar/Aurora whatever you want to call it, you could tell (in the hangar) it wasn't CGI. For those who haven't seen the movie, go see it. If you liked the original Top Gun, you'll love the sequel. The cinematography is incredible.
@@1crzflyer did you not watch the video? The filmmakers worked with skunkworks to make a full size model of the SR72. The SR72 in Maverick is literally NOT CGI.
I remember back in the mid-80's, there was a "Stealth Bomber" model kit that was shaped like a flying wing. Then the plane was officially announced in 1988, looking surprisingly similar to the model kit.
Lockheed Martin probably agreed to help so they could park it where pictures could be obtained either by passersby, or by satellite. A counter espionage tactic partially funded by the movie company.
It's probably been flying for the better part of the last decade. It would explain when the government is releasing the "UFO" reports and videos. They need something to cover sightings of operation of the aircraft.
we only know what they want us to know Btw if the USA already built and flew a 6th gen prototype fighter its mean they already has plans for the 7th gen fighter whats mean there is more coooool stuff
They say it’s “fake” and “Cgi” but in reality there’s an entire fleet of darkstars in a remote location. Well played, well played. They didn’t create “space force” for nothing.
Part of me thinks the SR72/ Darkstar featured in the trailer is highly accurate but have sneaky feeling the actual 'black' aircraft was retired some years ago and were on to version 73-74
Honestly the government isn't that great at keeping secrets. If it's a secret it's probably just unannounced and nobody even questions the things in the sky anymore. Even when they know it's a secret plane the reaction is typically "Cool. Anyways."
I helped build the F-117 for the movie Executive Decision. We built the full size mockup. at California City Airport. There were some helicopters from Edwards Air Force Base that flew over. They called to Edwards about a downed F-117. All of a sudden the airport had military personnel all over the place. Don't let this guy's words make this movie out to be more then it is. The X-1 in the movie The Right Stuff was a full scale model also built by the people I worked with. So was the Spruce Goose in the movie Rocketeer. The Howard Hughes racer and many more model's were built by these people. All models look authentic. That's why they get paid very well. I was paid $16,000 for 8 days working on the F-117.
@@PrograError Yes, but there was still a lot unknown (Top Secret). One of the reasons our friends hired my biological father. My biological father worked on the F-117 project.
If Skunk Works had the time to give to Hollywood to make an aircraft for a movie, they've already devised multiple aircraft for the US Military the world has yet to see.
So to clarify, did the PRC retask their satellite after their censors reviewed the movie and alerted their military about the Darkstar in the movie? Or, did they get wind of the Darkstar mockup via some other channel and try to photograph it, before learning from their censors it was just a movie prop? Either way it's pretty hilarious. I hope the studio and Lockheed tried to hide it from the satellite, to make the whole thing seem even more suspicious.
China can't lose. They will either a) Make a hypersonic aircraft BASED on what they think Darkstar is if it were real, or b) produce a new wolf warrior movie with a mock-up of a Darkstar like fictitios plane that they will claim is a real technological breakthrough by the Chinese... Or they will do BOTH! :-)
@@angeluscorpius It would be pretty funny if the Chinese actually built a working hypersonic fighter based off Darkstar. Like the plot of Galaxy Quest.
@@angeluscorpius meh surely murikkkans will win once again by copying DF-17 and filming another RaMbO moive good luck with ur agm183a, you'll need it since I heard its tests ain't going well
The same thing happened with the 1982 Clint Eastwood movie "Firefox". The full size mock up attracted attention from the Russians. What is even funnier is that the jet in the movie was suppose to be a new advanced Russian fighter.
Firefox was based on a popular novel. After the popular Clint Eastwood film 🎬 The author put out a new sequel story; Firefox Down. Gant is seriously wounded & Firefox crashed in the snow, mountains.
Satellites were turned onto the set of the Nicholas Cage movie, _Lord of War._ Production organized the assembly of fifty real military tanks for a shot, which was caught on satellite imagery, getting NATO and the leaders of some countries on edge. The film's production rented the tanks from an arms dealer. There was only a short period of time for director, Andrew Niccol get the shots of the tanks, as the the arms dealer had them scheduled for purchase to Libya.
@@mobiusflammel9372 I stand corrected. The low fly by over ed harris was filmed using a blue angel f18 and then they must've of superimposed the Darkstar digitally
I would say, there's a Darkstar but it's unmanned and Skunkworks is hiding a real secret within the secret. Like they usually do and their secret area of design and stuff for testing is somewhere else in testing or operation.
@@VanquishedAgain idk why it would be manned. it doesn't really serve a purpose other than record setting so being manned would kind of make it irrelevant
One more in the same line: Russia's been sending the most heavy weapons to the Ukrainian army so far (literally hundreds of tanks, artillery units and IFVs being captured)... and they went from having the 2nd largest army in the world to having the 2nd largest army in Ukraine :)
Fantastic movie! The way they can shoot movies these days is unreal! These actors physical condition with the flying was amazing! Beautiful filming with Val Kilmer and Tom! Those that have seen it will understand! Worth the wait!
You forgot the U2... It still amazes me that the titanium for the SR71 came from the USSR. I wasn't much of a fan of the original film, but the training with F5s was interesting. And on that note, have you seen Ward Carroll's "The Secret Program That Hid an Even More Secret Program", I never knew MIGs were taken back to the US and used for training...
The major reason for the existence of the program Mr. Carrol was involved with may well have been to use that program as cover for the F-117. DoD will spend an extreme amount of money on secrecy, or at least it did in those days. Still, DIA did an admirable job handling this recent and infamous Chinese defector. So perhaps there is still some professionalism and integrity in DoD, just not at the top.
@@LoremIpsum1970 Hmm...right after George H.W. Bush makes his greatest achievement with the military Reagan built and then promptly begins gutting said military because "peace dividend". Yeah, look at all the "peace" the last 30 years have brought us. Is there a lesson here???
Oh my yes. Chuck Yeager wrung out a MiG-15 and when describing what he did to his Soviet counterpart some years later, the Soviet pilot turned white and told Yeager that when Soviet pilots tried those things, the MiG-15 departed controlled flight. Both the USSR and the USA benefited from testing the MiG-15 as it led to the concept of the entire horizontal stabilizers being all moving slabs.
I’ll add too that the “SR-72” bears a striking resemblance to the Testors model F-19 “Stealth Fighter” in the days we knew about the existence of stealth aircraft, but just before the F-117 came out in public
One perfect Spring Day about 40 years ago at the annual March SAC Base Air Show I was among the 50,000 spectators milling about on the tarmac as it seemed this spectacular show was coming to a close. The Thunderbirds had done their amazing act and stunt planes had performed loops and rolls to the delight of the crowd, but the sounds of jets and propellers were no longer present, only a strange silence hung in the air. As I was thinking maybe it's time to go to the car something caught my eye coming from the North end of the Base at a low altitude.....Something Dark and moving very fast. A strange Sound was building from the distance but it seemed to come from far behind the Black Intruder and then only one heart beat later it was upon us....An Alien craft which abruptly raised its nose to the sky and with a Blast that hurt the ears went straight up unrelenting until it was out of Human sight. We left the Base soon after that but I'll never forget the spectacular entrance of the Blackbird.
Watched the Top-Gun Maverick with my son who is now turning 20, give or take about the age I was when I watched the first Top-Gun movie. Great Father-Son moment and the movie was indeed lot of fun.
It’s basically variants of the same aircraft. Yes there are important differences, but those were either developmental differences or mission requirements.
@Glenn Quagmire: Lockheed's A-12 developed into the YF-12 which eventually developed into the SR-71 Blackbird. While in the Air Force 71-75, I maintained & operated Aircraft Arresting Barriers (Barrier Crew) at each end of the runways over-run as my secondary career field. When Nixon mined Haiphong Harbor in 71, the Air Force was put on high alert & began rotating aircraft all over the United States. I was fortunate enough to be working the flight-line when two SR-71 Blackbirds landed at Kingsley Field, Oregon. Was able to get up close to my favorite aircraft & talk briefly with the pilots and the Reconnaissance System Operator.
Yes the A-12 could flew higher and faster than the SR-71, but the former was just an experimental aircraft with no operational mission. SR-71 was outfitted with all sorts of avionics and equipment for sophisticated reconnaissance missions.
I wouldn't be surprised if they put in features that would deliberately make the design worse than depicted but wouldn't be noticeable to most viewers. That seems like an engineer's sense of humor to me.
It is cute that you think there is no CCP spies in those companies working on the projects. 50% of engineering students at USA universities are Chinese.
The way it works is they use already released material relevant to hypersonic flight as the basis of design (for example the already released SR-72 artwork). They then make a more detailed model and clear it with management. It's done a lot for trade shows for models. Same thing here. No difference. It's pretty routine. The stuff that is the magic sauce geometry wise may be present but there's a great deal more than just the geometry to make the magic happen. Plus it's in the interest of LM, ADP, and the various branches of the military and other end users to attract new talent to LM. They pay poorly and are a emotional dumpster fire to work for so at least having the cool kid toys buys some attractiveness. I'm glad the producers chose to work with technocrats, maybe at least some aspects of the physics and engineering won't just be cringe worthy.
The designers and engineers, who are constantly restrained by physics, practicality, and budget, might have had a blast taking a week to design something for maximum coolness.
My grandma's brother used to work at skunk works, I actually got a tour of the factory and everything, after they stopped manufacturing the f22 the line switched to ac130s and all I'm gonna say is that the ac130 is a lot bigger than people think
If I had a nickels for every time a full-sized mock up of a fake plane for a major US movie caused a foreign power to ask questions I'd have two nickels... Which is weird that it's happened twice... Remember Stealth from the early 2000's caused a similar situation to happen.
That Skunkworks logo is so cute. Also, are there teams involved whose sole purpose is to come up with cool names for aircraft? Because Darkstar is really awesome.
While the PRC is top down in its approach, how much do you think the different parts of the PRC actually know about the others? In other words; while the head knows what the hands are doing, the left hand does not know what the right hand is doing and vice versa. So it is entirely believable that the PRC could be involved in (at the political level at a minimum) and be fooled by the same movie production.
In the PRC under Xi, information flows down, but not up, especially negative information. There may be cross talk from channel to channel, but it's unofficially discouraged.
@@trplankowner3323 Yeah, I should have said "The head thinks it knows..." or something to that effect. Though the real point was about lateral communication of course. One thing though, it is really just bad information that doesn't go up the chain. Good reports, fake or real, do go up. And that is the real problem when talking about a top down structure where the lower tiers are literally scared for their lives.
@@Laotzu.Goldbug Putin is very similar. It's a hazard of being a dictator with no checks on your power. There's just no incentive to bring the Big Guy bad news. It seems Putin didn't warn Xi about his "Special Military Operation" and Xi's people didn't warn him either. At first Xi and the Chinese were excited to watch the Russians crush Ukraine armed with Western weapons. Now it seems Xi won't take Putin's calls and had all their Russian built weapons taken out of service until they can be thoroughly check. lol So Putin is in the same basket as Biden now. If you're a major world leader and other world leaders won't take your calls, you're doing something wrong.
@@whyjnot420 I didn't intend to criticize your comment, just put in my 2 cents. China is much more like you mentioned above. Russia, Putin only seems to kill the ones that might pose a treat. It's just that in Putin's kleptocracy, there's no profit in giving your superiors bad news about something, especially if their corruption is at fault. i.e.: thousands of Russian tanks that can't be put into combat because they've been stripped of parts that could be sold or the precious metals in them melted down for sale.
Skunkworks should make all kinds of crazy aircraft & leave the outside on all kinds of Air Force bases around the world , just models tho . Move them around , make entire squadrons of them & have the United States Air Force claim to have made entire squadrons of hyper sonic aircraft with high hyper sonic nuclear capable missiles . That would scare the crap out of anyone .
Here's a hypothetical situation for you. Suppose you're the USAF head of the development of a new reconnaissance/multirole aircraft. It's referred to as the second coming of a famous aircraft from over half a century ago. However, that's not factual, technology has changed and that sort of aircraft is no longer needed, with the exception of a backup in case satellites are taken out in case of war. This new bird has a different role. It has a top speed of Mach 7, or higher. It's capable of actually entering space. However, if it remains low enough where the air is more dense, its elongated nose will fill the area under the shock wave with plasma rendering the bird essentially invisible to radar from the front aspect. While in conventional combat the US has no peers or even "near peers", there are several nuclear armed potential opponents that the USAF doesn't want getting too nosey over this new bird. One of the best ways to keep something secret is to hide it in plain sight by letting your adversary see what they expect to see, or better yet, what they want to see. Along comes a Hollywood production company requesting military assistance, how fortunate! You give the movie types an idea for an aircraft that looks "amazingly" like your program's bird. Now, when the bad guys come snooping around, all they see is that Hollywood movie prop and they aren't going to let the "evil American imperialist" fool them with that stunt. After all, they had their people on the inside of making that movie and they know what's going on because they're so much better at intelligence than the imperialists are.
"Dark Star" was a body stabilized aircraft which Lockheed and Hughes Aircraft developed, with Hughes again providing the avionic & surveillance systems. The prototype aircraft was created in the late 19080's and Hughes built a building known as R3 (for their Radar Systems Group) that was located on Hughes Way next to RSG's corporate offices. The facility had underground access and was in essence a "Test Lab" for the aircraft. Upon the purchase of HAC by General Motors...with Roger Smith serving as President/CEO of GMHE) Huges began a spiral of criminal activity which including falsified government document's and failed products that impacted 75+ government classified programs. GM implanted exec's went to prison while Lockheed had both the State, Federal, FAA and DoD coming down on them hard for a variety of executive specific orders which placed peoples lives at risk including the ARFF operations for Burbank Airport (which Lockheed was contracted to provide for)...throw in some "environmental issues" (nice way of saying it), it's no doubt why the POTUS ordered the plug pulled on this SAR/SAP project and the tech transferred to those developing the "sister" project. The building R3 was torn down right to the dirt with weeks of the order.
cant wait for the DCS world awacs radio menu to pop up in my head every time i hear darkstar in the movie lol honest journalism 👍keep up the good work!!
Great video!! The term Darkstar was linked to the Aurora spyplane way back in the nineties. Stephen Douglas heard the name Darkstar on his radio when he photographed the famous doughnuts on a rope contrails in March on 1992. Supposedly the Darkstar/Aurora flew over his house.
@@hf117j It's called coast to coast AM. Good podcast last night they interviewed the guys out at Skin Walker Ranch. Art Bell started the show back in the 90s. He died and another host took over.
I watch it and it did not disappoint me one bit. It went beyond my expectations. I remember watching the 1st one as a teenager at the Bremerton Washington downtown Admiral theater. It was Memorial Day and we were at the parade downtown and looked up and saw the sign saying Topgun. As we drove by in our car. My father asked me if I wanted to go see it. I almost said no. Only something inside me said I needed to go see this movie. They dropped me off. And I went in and watched it. And then they pick me up afterward. And that movie blow me away with how great it was. I watch it so many times in my life since then. I loved Fire Fox and Iron Eagle too. Saw both those with my father. It seems like those years are coming back to me now. So many great movies and I loved the 1980s. It was a time of innocents and we thought nothing was impossible. It was the best years of our nation. And this makes me believe we have more to come. Just before that, I watch the 1st Space shuttle blow up live on TV in my high school classroom. That was a crazy year.
I personally thought the Charlie Sheen parody was better. If you're an adult and you still think the original TG was anything other than processed cheese with the corniest script and soundtrack since.. every cheesebag '80s movie; I don't know what to tell you. It was cool when I was 13, and totally retarded by the time I was 17. The Kenny Loggins-ing didn't do it any favors.
I watched the movie and the experience was terrific. I even booked the ticket few days before, so I can get the best seat. And believe me, I never regret every second of it!
I think the A-12 was definitely more sporty in initial design but would it not be possible that the SR-71 over the years got pushed far beyond it's initial design limits (i.e. destroying engines) and maybe outperforming the A-12 which never got rung out because it followed a strict test program?
You guys realize the A-12 and SR-71 are essentially the same plane right? And as far as I know the A-12 variants never became fully operational. As in never went to be used outside of being a testbed. Making the SR-71 the fastest OPERATIONAL aircraft. You guys have to watch how people say things. Screw you over when you don't.
@@hf117j They were the same design wise, but the A12 was much smaller, lighter and would only hold 68k vs 80k Ibs of fuel. And the A-12 was in fact, Operational, flown by USAF pilots that resigned their commission to join the CIA and fly for them. Once their tour was over, they went back to the USAF. Operational flights in 67-68 were over North Korea and North Vietnam, at least those are unclassified.
The Chinese will attempt to build their own Darkstar based on what they've seen in the Top Gun: Maverick and it will just end up in a movie of their own as it'll be where it'll be most effective at, in....a movie
Not quite, they’ll take some inspiration and improve on the idea. China designs decent airframes, but their engines are not up to the standards. Remember, the Chinese engineers made their first nuclear submarine from a scaled model submarine (with interiors)…
Early/mid 90s KSSC Shaw AFB had Shaw fest airshow where they bring in a little of everything. They had a roped off section and in the middle were 3 landing gear in the triangle configuration. A sign said Stealth fighter. They went all in with warning signs and even put a MP standing there. Funny to see so many taking pictures and trying to "see" the invisible plane.
Back in the late ‘80s we actually had an F-117 at a local air show. Complete with said Marine that confirmed he WOULD shoot me if I seriously tried to touch it! 😄
@@troyjollimore4100 I worked for my State's Aeronautics Commission which allowed me some inside access at events and on the ramp. KCAE Columbia SC had a B-2 Stealth stay over for it's dedication and naming to SC. Lets just say I was able to touch it... I had full access and oddly enough the plane had no extra security. I also touched AF1 on multiple occasions, the Pop mobile and flew top cover for Thatcher, Gen Schwarzkopf. Never a picture taker or autograph guy but took every op to touch, a tour or a flight/
@@JIMJAMSC Was returning to Honolulu Int’l after an aerobatic flight when two National Guard F-15s did a VERY close pass with wing waggles going the other direction. When I mentioned how awesome it would be to get a flight in one of those, the plane owner complained that he was the State Aviation Inspector, and he was never offered the chance to fly backseat! 😄
The SR-71 Blackbird was an absolutely gorgeous aircraft and I'm not talking about its appearance talking about its flight characteristics and performance, the Air Force indeed does have a new hypersonic aircraft coming out of the skunk works that is already in the United States Air Force inventory of operational aircraft, and remodels of drones which are very interesting there has been nothing like these aircraft ever before it is a quantum leap over the f-35 and F-22 SR 71 blackbird !!!
What's crazy is that Skunk Works actually OKAYED this! The most top secret aircraft designers in the world built an aircraft for a movie! They're busy working on the SR-72, B-3, Aurora, Black Manta, and other secret projects and they were just like, "Yeah, we can make a plane for your movie." And then China thinks its a real plane! The reason this film was delayed so many times could likely be attributed to how long it took Skunk Works to build such a realistic prop (Yes, I am aware that the delays were mostly caused by COVID-19).
I saw something fly up the west coast of Scotland and it's got to be a new plane of some sort, but it flew faster than anything I have ever seen. I saw the vapour trail but not the plane and I couldn't hear it but the speed was incredible, and very low altitude. It was also daylight so nothing that was being flown secretly, just a black smudge with a long long long vapour trail.
So the thing is, there has already been mock-ups of the same concept going around china since like 2015, it is/will be a high altitude hypersonic unmanned drone called the “shadow sword” or” 暗剑”. It was first shown off in the 2016 Zhuhai air show as a model, then it was shown in 2020s zhuhai air show as a full-scale model.
They could’ve used the movie as a cover for the real deal. Showing up some “mock-ups” for the movie leads to no higher suspicions. In any case is a win-win. The Chinese will investigate the matter and divert resources either chasing a ghost or letting go the real deal unnoticed
If it is designed by Skunkworks, there might actually be some valuable information gained from this "mockup", so why not retask a satellite that is otherwise taking the same picture of a military base it is taking every day
Most of these aircraft will wind up looking more or less the same. There is very little that can be gleamed from the exterior design. Twin engine, cross between a delta, diamond, and flying wing (at least in terms of being wide and thin). Arrow shaped for lack of a better term. What makes or breaks it is the engineering and research and development into what goes beneath that.
SR-91, not SR-72. Falsely labeled "Aurora" after being listed in budget listings. There is no evidence it exists but that doesn't mean it doesn't. Also with Russia's announcement of a new MiG that can outperform the SR-71, I'm sure we've had a counter for it for quite some time.
It's not about all of speed anymore. The trend in fighter jets has actually been slowing down over the last generation anyway I'm pretty sure of the old Tom cat was just as fast "or faster" than anything coming out now. They have a whole lot of requirements those planes have to meet and all out top speed isn't necessarily one of them anymore.
Save the speed tech for the missiles, if they are hypersonic and you have long range targeting then planes don't need to be hypersonic. Hollywood has romanticised dog fighting ( so 1991). Even so Gulf war dog fights were really just turkey shoots.
That is likely due to the limits of the human body. If your going at Mach 3 and try to go into an inverted dive, your going to pull a lotta Gs and likely pass out. Once we get autonomous fighters (not attack drones) then they will definitely bump up the speed as high as they can.
I seriously doubt the Lockheed engineers would put anything vaguely plausable into the design of a movie mock-up from real development work on multi-billion dollar semi-black project designs let alone actual in progress 'open secret' next-gen hypersonic planes, and I doubt China would be stupid enough to believe they would.
It definitely reminds one of North Korean leader, telling his rocket scientist, he wanted the missiles, "more pointy!" Elon joked with his Engineers about it!
@@rosseaualleys5805 Well I didn't mean the prop itself was real. Only that the prop was made, and appeared in a movie and so if a real model is out there, it would simply be said to be a prop from a movie, or upcoming movie.
@@RickySpanish12344 Might be a variation of SUN ZEE ? Confuse the enemy then compound the confusion? Don't quote me on that cause NOT really SURE if that is SUN ZEE or not???
The movie was incredible! The aircraft is definitely real. I remember the head of skunk works one time in an interview said he has seen technology that is way way beyond what we have ever seen. Go look it up!
@Latest Obsession the head of skunk works said the tech he has seen was so incredible it is far beyond anything that we have today and anything beyond what he has ever seen up to that point. 👍🏻look at what Nick the guy above you said it was something like that.
I have just seen Top Gun maverick and I loved every minute of it as I remember the first Top Gun movie it’s a Big thumbs up for me 👍 can’t wait to get it on blu ray but you have to see it on the big screen 👏👏😊
It looked so real... Thats because it probably was so real. Id bet that was a concept that either never got made, or was made and the sucked all they could from it giving us glimpses. And not the actual concept guys. They would have dusted a concept design off and built the shell leaving out or adding to it so its not an exact copy.
What if skunk works put design elements of a top secret existing aircraft in the props design without actually giving away the look of the real thing meaning the CGI model could have the wings of one top secret existing aircraft and the fuselage of another top secret existing aircraft and blended them together to create the fictional CGI model and mock up
It's more likely Skunk Works added details from design elements that didn't work, so any adversary trying to reverse engineer a hypersonic design would find themselves at a dead end. One thing that drove me nuts about the preview clip was Maverick's pressure suit helmet being lit from inside. That's the last thing you want to do. Obviously the director wanted Tom Cruise's face visible, but that helmet would blind you.
@@dougrobinson8602 Yeah they do that anytime actors wear helmets. I remember it being talked about way back with first starwars and original battlestar galactica films. Actors said they couldn't see a thing with helmets on and lit up.
And or some real elements but in slightly different places so if they do manage to capture anything they shouldn't they can't be sure if it's now a movie project or the real thing. All round perfect misinformation campaign
Didn't they also "accidentally" design the missile operation room in the 1983 film WarGames along with all its launch procedures in such convincing detail that there was an investigation into how they knew so much? I think it was either WarGames or the B52 scene in Dr Strangelove.
"if you've seen the first Top Gun".. WRONG... See it REGUARDLESS. No one at a younger generation has seen a 40 year old movie unless it was when they were babies or really enjoy films. Not a high percentage of young ones but this film will make them want to Experience what we did all those years ago..
You do realize that Darkstar was being discussed in the 1990's in aviation circles and there were supposed to be "sightings" of it particularly in the desert southwest? Go look at the Aviation Week archives. You don't think the Chinese and everyone else read Aviation Week? It was often the case that those of us working in the aerospace industry back then would read Aviation Week articles and learn information we didn't know about the projects we were working on! All I see here is movie hype.
its the Aurora, clearly we are comfortable with making it known now after its circled the globe for 30 years....whats wild is what is circling now haha
As a general rule I avoid all those silly, juvenile movies made by schlockmeister Jerry Bruckheimer, the man responsible for some of the most absolute bone-stupid ridiculous movies in history. But the more I see of this movie, the more interested I get in watching it. So yeah. It might be the first Bruckheimer-produced film I'll watch in 20+ years. On the plus side I loved Oblivion which was also directed by Kosinski so yeah, I'm probably going to watch Top Gun: Maverick.
3:56 How realistic the dark star looks. Designed with skunk work engineers! I thought it was just Hollywood BS, but but it turns out to be very realistic!
I'd love to know what skunworks charged to make that aircraft. The original Top Gun was one of the deciding factors in me becoming a Marine Avionics technician (OOH RAH MALS-12 and 14). Always loved aircraft, fixed and rotary wing! Can't wait to see it. I'm going alone, my wife and kid will have to go with me on round 2.
I'm sure that the mock-up was very professionally done, and that the Chinese and some other people would have been very interested. However, my understanding is that deliberate errors are made with uniforms in TV shows and movies, so the wrong people can't make accurate copies of them. I have absolutely no doubt that something similar was done when creating the mock-up.
Lol... china tries to copy it and wonders why the cg is so tail heavy because they could only get it to sit on the landing gear as a prop by filling the nose with lead or tungsten even without real engines. God I would adore errors that massive but that well hidden
it has been known for many years that the USA has an ultra-secret plane which succeeded the Blackbird, it does not emit a supersonic shock and leaves strange wakes, so we suspect propulsion by MHD (which has been theorized for 40 years ), suddenly the appearance of a similar device in this film is not really surprising, even if we do not know exactly what it looks like
Not to mention the F-117 is supposedly retired but has been spotted in recent years over Area 51. Either OPFOR training or maybe even the F-117 can be upgraded with better stealth technology.
It's not going to be a question of if this movie is going to make money . it's a question now of how much. Something tells me fans of Aviation and Military Aviation are going to go nuts watching this, and considering I went to the theater three times to see the original.... Can you blame them?
I got to see the advance screening as well. If you liked the first one you'll like second one. I just can't turn my brain off in movies that are supposed to be grounded in the real world any more. It was really because I know people who were on the TR during its filming and I have a connection to north island. So it was cool for me.
Darkstar was the call sign heard in the early 90s by an amateur radio guy of incoming suspected aurora landing at Edward's...it was going 6k mph according to estimates
somewhere in Eastern china, some Chinese "engineers" are scratching their heads at some fuzzy photos the bosses just sent them with a note that says, "build this or else". 😆
good one dude!!!
😂
🤣🤣🤣
No they get full blueprints from the CCP spies getting their masters in engineering from every university in the USA.
Totally right lol
Five, 10 years from now, we'll all look back and make videos about how Lockheed and the movie makers fooled us all by showing the real, operational Darkstar aircraft while pretending it was just a mock-up.
Yeah, if they’re showing it to you in a movie. Then it’s already operational.
they just lying lol cause they got caught
Well, the F-22 started development in 1989 I think and it was first flown in 1999 and then officially put into the Air Force in 2005, so yeah, if Skunk Works is giving us this, then the real thing must already be operational to some point.
Wouldn’t be surprised. Or per chance this was an earlier prototype of what they may have built.
The real bamboozle
You know if they are disclosing SR-72 then it's already outdated. Declassifying aircraft means its secrecy is no longer important, so they must have something better that is currently in service
Usually if the Pentagon want to report on a plane early they will blur it or release a mock-up that looks somewhat the same. SR-72 as a concept was created before the SR-71 even entered test flight.
Mate... its just fantasy
B-2 info being released for political purposes during 80s
some of these ufo sightings are military projects
F-117 flew for I think 11 years before it was declassified.
My dad worked at Lockheed most of my life and had a "top secret" security clearance. They would send people to interview the neighbors to make sure he didn't share any secret information. He used to bring me these extremely powerful magnets they would recover from destroyed hard drives. I was a kid at the time and loved playing with them.
My dad worked on the F1-17A when it was Top Secret. He had a lot of cool stories growing up. He had a cover story and didn’t even know where he worked because it was a black site.
Jake_916_ F117 is based on the design from the Anti-Gravity Craft that crashed in Roswell according to the daughter of an Commanding Officer tasked with recovery and R&D who kept a cryptic journal. Craft came from Zeta Reticula. One survivor was code named EBE. The Triangular craft are not as advanced as the ‘flying saucers’. The Saucers are based on the Nazis reverse engineering the Vimana’s found in Tibet, Afghanistan, and India which were used by our Parent race we now call Gods in Indo-European ‘myth’. The SS search for ‘Aryan Origins’ has zero to do with white supremacy, and everything to do with the Gods. The White Supremacy label was design to memory hole the subject to prevent further discussion. Aryan in Germanic derived from Airyan in Avestan (Iranic) derived from Arya in Sanskrit (Indic) meaning Noble. Honorific title used by the Persians in particular in reference to both Buddha and the Asura/Ahura/Æsir which were the general terms referring to the Gods by region. Term God itself derived form Kho in Avestan meaning Master. Look up Shambhala and Airyanem Vaejah if you’d like.
If you would like to learn more about occult history, Aryans, Atlantis, Vimana’s, and the Nazis investigation into it all, I suggest Robert Sepehr.
@@4295jake But why do they paint them black? What is the reasoning behind it? Because black paint has limited capacity in reflecting light and that makes it invisible to the human eye? What do you think is the reason for the black site?
@@Kenny-yl9pc It may be IR baffling or something. Color isn’t usually indicative of function; one of the only exceptions I know of was the reflective plating on bombers set to drop nuclear weapons during WW2.
@@hueghh3775 Hey thank you for your serious input. My comment was not serious it was a bad joke regarding his remarks on the black site. Secret military or intelligence facilities are called "black sites" and I was making fun of it by implying that it is some kind of black paint. But nevertheless thank you for your reply =)
This is NOT the first time stuff like this has happened. From the movie Stealth, the FA-37 Talon got mistaken as a real aircraft not just by foreign but domestic intelligence groups. Pictures of the full sized model on a us carrier deck, had even Janes trying to figure out if it was a real fighter.
But even before that... One mock up almost lead to a war. Libya got wind of Tunisia building a large tank, hidden in the desert... overflights showed a huge tracked vehicle near the border and prompted Libya to threaten Tunisia with a pre-emptive strike and invasion if they did not pull back their... Jawa Sand Crawler.
No joke, the model as not a full sand crawler, just the tracks, but it was enough to convince Libya it was some sort of military vehicle being built and positioned for a strike against them.
Wait they made full scale Talon props? Those looked awesome and I would love to have an rc version
@@hf117j Oh yeah, they made full scale models then filmed them being raised and lowered on the carrier elevator as well as sitting on the flight deck, and on the catapult. A sailor took some pictures of it and posted it online... but didn't put context in...
So poof, janes tactical information service... China, germany, and the uK instantly thought the US was sea trialing some new stealth aircraft. LOL.
@@jenniferstewarts4851 Lol, I wanna see those props in person. Maybe take pics with them. Also I want a full scale Pelican prop from Halo built
Did the same with Space:Above And Beyond's. HammerHead Fighter. The same craft janes ' Revell & Popular Mechanics was in a lawsuit with the Government... AND WON... Until 9/11
Rules changed with them being raided and charged with a cease & desist.
@@hoppermantis7615 I haven't seen that
There was a show back in the 90s called Space Above and Beyond. Essentially a near future where the US Navy and Marine Corps operated in space, etc. The workhorse of the show was the SA-58 “Hammerhead” exo-endo atmospheric fighter attack craft.
The show had to create several full sized realistic mock ups for use in filming. Apparently they were so realistic that the Russians and PRC were caught snooping around and photographing them!
was going to mention this myself. I watched that show when it aired.
Correction SA-43
loved that show!!! SAaB and the X-Files!! 2 of my favourites form the early 90's!
I say better safe than sorry
Have they put out any DVD's yet ?
Just saw the movie last night in theater. First impressions of seeing the SR-72/Darkstar/Aurora whatever you want to call it, you could tell (in the hangar) it wasn't CGI. For those who haven't seen the movie, go see it. If you liked the original Top Gun, you'll love the sequel. The cinematography is incredible.
CGI made dinosaurs look real 15 years ago.. you think CGI can't make a inanimate object look real?
@@1crzflyer the dinosaurs werent cgi, they were puppets so they seemed more real
@@1crzflyer did you not watch the video? The filmmakers worked with skunkworks to make a full size model of the SR72. The SR72 in Maverick is literally NOT CGI.
I've never seen Top Gun. I'm afraid to. The theme song says it will take me into the danger zone. I don't want to go there🥺
@Latest Obsession Watch? Oh. I thought it would be Real !! 😁😆
I remember back in the mid-80's, there was a "Stealth Bomber" model kit that was shaped like a flying wing. Then the plane was officially announced in 1988, looking surprisingly similar to the model kit.
Flying wings go back a VERY long time, as far as airplanes go.
B2 was not US first flying wing. There were flying wings since the late 1940s. The US built its first flying wing in 1947
Flying wing designs were discovered when Germany lost
Oh, I know about past flying wings, like the XB-35. I mean this model looked almost exactly like the B-2 specifically.
@@user-bi2ny9dc1nI believe the company to build the flying wing was Horton.I could be mistaken,it’s been awhile since I first read about it.
Lockheed Martin probably agreed to help so they could park it where pictures could be obtained either by passersby, or by satellite. A counter espionage tactic partially funded by the movie company.
Or...the movie is a cover for a real aircraft.
@@kdrapertrucker or...that's what want you to think...
@@kdrapertrucker Or the aircraft in the movie is deliberately designed the way that Skunk Works won't build it in real life, to mislead the Chinese.
I wont be surprised if the ACTUAL aircraft is revealed on the day of the global screening... just to flex on the CCP
Lockheed is in it for the product placement.
I would not surprised if "the real thing" is already flying in secret, but that is just my opinion, I cannot confirm or deny this
It's probably been flying for the better part of the last decade. It would explain when the government is releasing the "UFO" reports and videos. They need something to cover sightings of operation of the aircraft.
we only know what they want us to know
Btw if the USA already built and flew a 6th gen prototype fighter its mean they already has plans for the 7th gen fighter whats mean there is more coooool stuff
Not this one but the SR72 looks awfully similar and we dont know if thats already flying or still kn development
@@michagrill9432 it's flying. If u see it its 30to 40years old.
@@djl5634 what?
Watched this movie 2 times already, gonna watch again tomorrow.
Its just that good.
As cringey and campy as the first one?
@@asnark7115 both top gun are great
Its just you giving cringe comments
They say it’s “fake” and “Cgi” but in reality there’s an entire fleet of darkstars in a remote location. Well played, well played. They didn’t create “space force” for nothing.
Bunkerbitch created something that was already there many many years ago .
Friendly Reminder that Space Force is listed as having 77 ships on Wikipedia
@@dhuh6760 you mean the website that can be editted by the public?
@@dynestis2875 The website that links all it's sources at the bottom, yes.
Part of me thinks the SR72/ Darkstar featured in the trailer is highly accurate but have sneaky feeling the actual 'black' aircraft was retired some years ago and were on to version 73-74
And, it is shaped like a tic-tac
@@greymarck or a cube.
@@greymarck Found and Explained
Honestly the government isn't that great at keeping secrets. If it's a secret it's probably just unannounced and nobody even questions the things in the sky anymore. Even when they know it's a secret plane the reaction is typically "Cool. Anyways."
@@hf117j So true it hurts.
I helped build the F-117 for the movie Executive Decision.
We built the full size mockup. at California City Airport.
There were some helicopters from Edwards Air Force Base that flew over.
They called to Edwards about a downed F-117. All of a sudden the airport had military personnel all over the place.
Don't let this guy's words make this movie out to be more then it is.
The X-1 in the movie The Right Stuff was a full scale model also built by the people I worked with. So was the Spruce Goose in the movie Rocketeer. The Howard Hughes racer and many more model's were built by these people. All models look authentic. That's why they get paid very well.
I was paid $16,000 for 8 days working on the F-117.
@ Krystal....Must have been VERY INTERESTING when all kinds of MILITARY PEOPLE show up and said, "WHERE;S DAH PLANE?"
Being a fly on the wall with the chance to see it done would be fascinating.
was that after the official reveal from the government ...
@@PrograError
Yes, but there was still a lot unknown (Top Secret).
One of the reasons our friends hired my biological father. My biological father worked on the F-117 project.
@@jtc1947 sounds about right and the response being, "We're in an airport, you might want to try being a trifle more specific".
If Skunk Works had the time to give to Hollywood to make an aircraft for a movie, they've already devised multiple aircraft for the US Military the world has yet to see.
I liked the painted Skunk on the Darkstar, but for me, the 'woah' moment was where Tom's Kawasaki GPz900 quietly turned into an H2.
So to clarify, did the PRC retask their satellite after their censors reviewed the movie and alerted their military about the Darkstar in the movie? Or, did they get wind of the Darkstar mockup via some other channel and try to photograph it, before learning from their censors it was just a movie prop?
Either way it's pretty hilarious. I hope the studio and Lockheed tried to hide it from the satellite, to make the whole thing seem even more suspicious.
China can't lose. They will either a) Make a hypersonic aircraft BASED on what they think Darkstar is if it were real, or b) produce a new wolf warrior movie with a mock-up of a Darkstar like fictitios plane that they will claim is a real technological breakthrough by the Chinese... Or they will do BOTH! :-)
Hey wake up. The CCP produced this movie. Tencent media. Wake up sheeple.
Darkstar exists. That's all I am authorized to say.
@@angeluscorpius It would be pretty funny if the Chinese actually built a working hypersonic fighter based off Darkstar. Like the plot of Galaxy Quest.
@@angeluscorpius meh
surely murikkkans will win once again by copying DF-17 and filming another RaMbO moive
good luck with ur agm183a, you'll need it since I heard its tests ain't going well
The same thing happened with the 1982 Clint Eastwood movie "Firefox". The full size mock up attracted attention from the Russians. What is even funnier is that the jet in the movie was suppose to be a new advanced Russian fighter.
Firefox was based on a popular novel. After the popular Clint Eastwood film 🎬 The author put out a new sequel story; Firefox Down. Gant is seriously wounded & Firefox crashed in the snow, mountains.
@@DavidLLambertmobile Firefox was great, but Firefox down was dragging, like a sour Hollywood sequel.
Satellites were turned onto the set of the Nicholas Cage movie, _Lord of War._ Production organized the assembly of fifty real military tanks for a shot, which was caught on satellite imagery, getting NATO and the leaders of some countries on edge. The film's production rented the tanks from an arms dealer. There was only a short period of time for director, Andrew Niccol get the shots of the tanks, as the the arms dealer had them scheduled for purchase to Libya.
it cannot be stressed enough that so much of the flying in this film is real and that is just super cool
I just saw the movie today.With my dad.And that “Darkstar” aircraft sure looked real to me.Or it was just insanely good CGI.
It was a real plane built by the studio working with Skunkworks, it was flown by a blue angel pilot in the take off shot (not actually tom cruise)
@@Eserr7856 Where did you read that it was flyable? I haven't seen anywhere that it was more than a mock up.
@@mobiusflammel9372 I stand corrected. The low fly by over ed harris was filmed using a blue angel f18 and then they must've of superimposed the Darkstar digitally
I would say, there's a Darkstar but it's unmanned and Skunkworks is hiding a real secret within the secret. Like they usually do and their secret area of design and stuff for testing is somewhere else in testing or operation.
But you can tell us that..
idk why it would be unmanned. it doesn't really serve a purpose other than record setting so being unmanned would kind of make it irrelevant
@@VanquishedAgain
idk why it would be manned. it doesn't really serve a purpose other than record setting so being manned would kind of make it irrelevant
@@VanquishedAgain perhaps it's never been manned period
You're NOT thinking outside the box . It's rumored the "industry" is past jet and rocket technology . Think anti-gravity .
So the world's biggest defense contractor is... Hollywood? lol
Well Lego is the World's biggest tyre manufacturer, so who knows?
One more in the same line: Russia's been sending the most heavy weapons to the Ukrainian army so far (literally hundreds of tanks, artillery units and IFVs being captured)... and they went from having the 2nd largest army in the world to having the 2nd largest army in Ukraine :)
@@CakePrincessCelestia tanks and guns don't make for having an army. Armies were boots, tanks and guns without troops just rust.
@@spvillano Then the Russian army is only 1/11th of their claims. Just the people enforcing the non retreat stuff.
Fantastic movie! The way they can shoot movies these days is unreal! These actors physical condition with the flying was amazing! Beautiful filming with Val Kilmer and Tom! Those that have seen it will understand! Worth the wait!
They panicked when they saw the F/A-37 Talon Full Size Mockup too... hahaha
You forgot the U2... It still amazes me that the titanium for the SR71 came from the USSR. I wasn't much of a fan of the original film, but the training with F5s was interesting. And on that note, have you seen Ward Carroll's "The Secret Program That Hid an Even More Secret Program", I never knew MIGs were taken back to the US and used for training...
The major reason for the existence of the program Mr. Carrol was involved with may well have been to use that program as cover for the F-117. DoD will spend an extreme amount of money on secrecy, or at least it did in those days. Still, DIA did an admirable job handling this recent and infamous Chinese defector. So perhaps there is still some professionalism and integrity in DoD, just not at the top.
@@trplankowner3323 everything started going downhill in 1991...especially with taking our eye off the ball post 2001...
@@LoremIpsum1970 Hmm...right after George H.W. Bush makes his greatest achievement with the military Reagan built and then promptly begins gutting said military because "peace dividend". Yeah, look at all the "peace" the last 30 years have brought us. Is there a lesson here???
Oh my yes. Chuck Yeager wrung out a MiG-15 and when describing what he did to his Soviet counterpart some years later, the Soviet pilot turned white and told Yeager that when Soviet pilots tried those things, the MiG-15 departed controlled flight. Both the USSR and the USA benefited from testing the MiG-15 as it led to the concept of the entire horizontal stabilizers being all moving slabs.
I’m sure that they are testing things so secret and way more advanced
Anything
they have such unknown advances
I’ll add too that the “SR-72” bears a striking resemblance to the Testors model F-19 “Stealth Fighter” in the days we knew about the existence of stealth aircraft, but just before the F-117 came out in public
which was also depicted in the video game F-19. Which came first I don't know, loved that game.
One perfect Spring Day about 40 years ago at the annual March SAC Base Air Show I was among the 50,000 spectators milling about on the tarmac as it seemed this spectacular show was coming to a close. The Thunderbirds had done their amazing act and stunt planes had performed loops and rolls to the delight of the crowd, but the sounds of jets and propellers were no longer present, only a strange silence hung in the air. As I was thinking maybe it's time to go to the car something caught my eye coming from the North end of the Base at a low altitude.....Something Dark and moving very fast. A strange Sound was building from the distance but it seemed to come from far behind the Black Intruder and then only one heart beat later it was upon us....An Alien craft which abruptly raised its nose to the sky and with a Blast that hurt the ears went straight up unrelenting until it was out of Human sight. We left the Base soon after that but I'll never forget the spectacular entrance of the Blackbird.
Watched the Top-Gun Maverick with my son who is now turning 20, give or take about the age I was when I watched the first Top-Gun movie.
Great Father-Son moment and the movie was indeed lot of fun.
Actually, the single-seat version for the CIA, the AR-12, was a little bit faster than the SR-71 when it came to air-breathing jets.
*A-12
It’s basically variants of the same aircraft. Yes there are important differences, but those were either developmental differences or mission requirements.
@@majorborngusfluunduch8694 , Thanks for the correction. So many project names, plane names, and variants.
@Glenn Quagmire: Lockheed's A-12 developed into the YF-12 which eventually developed into the SR-71 Blackbird. While in the Air Force 71-75, I maintained & operated Aircraft Arresting Barriers (Barrier Crew) at each end of the runways over-run as my secondary career field. When Nixon mined Haiphong Harbor in 71, the Air Force was put on high alert & began rotating aircraft all over the United States. I was fortunate enough to be working the flight-line when two SR-71 Blackbirds landed at Kingsley Field, Oregon. Was able to get up close to my favorite aircraft & talk briefly with the pilots and the Reconnaissance System Operator.
Yes the A-12 could flew higher and faster than the SR-71, but the former was just an experimental aircraft with no operational mission. SR-71 was outfitted with all sorts of avionics and equipment for sophisticated reconnaissance missions.
I assume Skunkworks engineers didn’t put anything in the model that would give the Chinese or Russians real clues
I wouldn't be surprised if they put in features that would deliberately make the design worse than depicted but wouldn't be noticeable to most viewers. That seems like an engineer's sense of humor to me.
Associate Producer: The CIA
It is cute that you think there is no CCP spies in those companies working on the projects. 50% of engineering students at USA universities are Chinese.
The way it works is they use already released material relevant to hypersonic flight as the basis of design (for example the already released SR-72 artwork). They then make a more detailed model and clear it with management. It's done a lot for trade shows for models. Same thing here. No difference. It's pretty routine. The stuff that is the magic sauce geometry wise may be present but there's a great deal more than just the geometry to make the magic happen. Plus it's in the interest of LM, ADP, and the various branches of the military and other end users to attract new talent to LM. They pay poorly and are a emotional dumpster fire to work for so at least having the cool kid toys buys some attractiveness. I'm glad the producers chose to work with technocrats, maybe at least some aspects of the physics and engineering won't just be cringe worthy.
The designers and engineers, who are constantly restrained by physics, practicality, and budget, might have had a blast taking a week to design something for maximum coolness.
My grandma's brother used to work at skunk works, I actually got a tour of the factory and everything, after they stopped manufacturing the f22 the line switched to ac130s and all I'm gonna say is that the ac130 is a lot bigger than people think
Best film I've seen for a long time. Obviously there ARE technical errors, but they can easily be ignored for the purposes of entertainment!
INDEED 👍👍📽️💯
If I had a nickels for every time a full-sized mock up of a fake plane for a major US movie caused a foreign power to ask questions I'd have two nickels...
Which is weird that it's happened twice...
Remember Stealth from the early 2000's caused a similar situation to happen.
Didn't know it also happened with Stealth, which government got tricked by it?
@@5133937 China I believe.
One more nickel for you, I believe the one of the old Star Wars movie almost caused A conflict between Libya and Tunisia
Well at least 4 nickels: Firefox and the fake helicopter model made representing the crashed stealth helicopter from the 160th.
Starting to feel like you might actually be able to buy a candy bar.
US Gov: China is after the mil tech!
Chinese: *Starts pirating movies before they're even filmed*
Me: Now that's dedication to a craft
US Govt: we must stop Chinese spies.
US Govt: allows 500k Chinese students to study engineering at US university.
Copied 🤣🤣🤣
That Skunkworks logo is so cute. Also, are there teams involved whose sole purpose is to come up with cool names for aircraft? Because Darkstar is really awesome.
America moment, truly America moment.
While the PRC is top down in its approach, how much do you think the different parts of the PRC actually know about the others? In other words; while the head knows what the hands are doing, the left hand does not know what the right hand is doing and vice versa.
So it is entirely believable that the PRC could be involved in (at the political level at a minimum) and be fooled by the same movie production.
In the PRC under Xi, information flows down, but not up, especially negative information. There may be cross talk from channel to channel, but it's unofficially discouraged.
@@trplankowner3323 bingo. He operates as a Hermit Emperor
@@trplankowner3323 Yeah, I should have said "The head thinks it knows..." or something to that effect. Though the real point was about lateral communication of course.
One thing though, it is really just bad information that doesn't go up the chain. Good reports, fake or real, do go up. And that is the real problem when talking about a top down structure where the lower tiers are literally scared for their lives.
@@Laotzu.Goldbug Putin is very similar. It's a hazard of being a dictator with no checks on your power. There's just no incentive to bring the Big Guy bad news. It seems Putin didn't warn Xi about his "Special Military Operation" and Xi's people didn't warn him either. At first Xi and the Chinese were excited to watch the Russians crush Ukraine armed with Western weapons. Now it seems Xi won't take Putin's calls and had all their Russian built weapons taken out of service until they can be thoroughly check. lol So Putin is in the same basket as Biden now. If you're a major world leader and other world leaders won't take your calls, you're doing something wrong.
@@whyjnot420 I didn't intend to criticize your comment, just put in my 2 cents. China is much more like you mentioned above. Russia, Putin only seems to kill the ones that might pose a treat. It's just that in Putin's kleptocracy, there's no profit in giving your superiors bad news about something, especially if their corruption is at fault. i.e.: thousands of Russian tanks that can't be put into combat because they've been stripped of parts that could be sold or the precious metals in them melted down for sale.
Top Gun Maverick will be a big hit in China since they want to see the Dark Star aircraft. Thanks Jerry and Joe for this.
Of course, if I remember when the first trailer came out and someone point out that they remove Taiwan flag and put China flag on Maverick jacket
@@badgamer2129 those damn PRC Bastards!!!
Skunkworks should make all kinds of crazy aircraft & leave the outside on all kinds of Air Force bases around the world , just models tho . Move them around , make entire squadrons of them & have the United States Air Force claim to have made entire squadrons of hyper sonic aircraft with high hyper sonic nuclear capable missiles . That would scare the crap out of anyone .
haha just leave huge flying saucers outside, tic tac shaped crafts.....
@@marked4death076 I know right .lol .
SR72 is the new future of the SR71.
It's gonna be a triple of speed with this fuselage
Don’t forget Kelly Johnson @ Lockheed also made the U2.
Here's a hypothetical situation for you. Suppose you're the USAF head of the development of a new reconnaissance/multirole aircraft. It's referred to as the second coming of a famous aircraft from over half a century ago. However, that's not factual, technology has changed and that sort of aircraft is no longer needed, with the exception of a backup in case satellites are taken out in case of war. This new bird has a different role. It has a top speed of Mach 7, or higher. It's capable of actually entering space. However, if it remains low enough where the air is more dense, its elongated nose will fill the area under the shock wave with plasma rendering the bird essentially invisible to radar from the front aspect. While in conventional combat the US has no peers or even "near peers", there are several nuclear armed potential opponents that the USAF doesn't want getting too nosey over this new bird. One of the best ways to keep something secret is to hide it in plain sight by letting your adversary see what they expect to see, or better yet, what they want to see. Along comes a Hollywood production company requesting military assistance, how fortunate! You give the movie types an idea for an aircraft that looks "amazingly" like your program's bird. Now, when the bad guys come snooping around, all they see is that Hollywood movie prop and they aren't going to let the "evil American imperialist" fool them with that stunt. After all, they had their people on the inside of making that movie and they know what's going on because they're so much better at intelligence than the imperialists are.
Very interesting hypothetical situation I must say!!!
@@BrianRhodes9763 Purely hypothetical! I can neither confirm nor deny any resemblance of that theory to reality.
honestly- I think you might be on this.
@@trplankowner3323 Thank you for your service Shipmate. What boat were you on?
@@BrianRhodes9763 It's in the screen name buddy!
"Dark Star" was a body stabilized aircraft which Lockheed and Hughes Aircraft developed, with Hughes again providing the avionic & surveillance systems. The prototype aircraft was created in the late 19080's and Hughes built a building known as R3 (for their Radar Systems Group) that was located on Hughes Way next to RSG's corporate offices. The facility had underground access and was in essence a "Test Lab" for the aircraft. Upon the purchase of HAC by General Motors...with Roger Smith serving as President/CEO of GMHE) Huges began a spiral of criminal activity which including falsified government document's and failed products that impacted 75+ government classified programs. GM implanted exec's went to prison while Lockheed had both the State, Federal, FAA and DoD coming down on them hard for a variety of executive specific orders which placed peoples lives at risk including the ARFF operations for Burbank Airport (which Lockheed was contracted to provide for)...throw in some "environmental issues" (nice way of saying it), it's no doubt why the POTUS ordered the plug pulled on this SAR/SAP project and the tech transferred to those developing the "sister" project. The building R3 was torn down right to the dirt with weeks of the order.
least schitzophrenic youtube comment be like:
Anyone else remember seeing the roof get blown up in cinema 😂
cant wait for the DCS world awacs radio menu to pop up in my head every time i hear darkstar in the movie lol honest journalism 👍keep up the good work!!
Great video!! The term Darkstar was linked to the Aurora spyplane way back in the nineties. Stephen Douglas heard the name Darkstar on his radio when he photographed the famous doughnuts on a rope contrails in March on 1992. Supposedly the Darkstar/Aurora flew over his house.
on the Art Bell program.
Pulse detonator engines.
That true in 1988 Bob Lazar saw it at area 51
@@jspla Art Bell? Haven't actually heard of that one
@@hf117j It's called coast to coast AM. Good podcast last night they interviewed the guys out at Skin Walker Ranch. Art Bell started the show back in the 90s. He died and another host took over.
Like 80% of the movie is the characters training for a mission yet I was glued to the seat
I watch it and it did not disappoint me one bit. It went beyond my expectations. I remember watching the 1st one as a teenager at the Bremerton Washington downtown Admiral theater. It was Memorial Day and we were at the parade downtown and looked up and saw the sign saying Topgun. As we drove by in our car. My father asked me if I wanted to go see it. I almost said no. Only something inside me said I needed to go see this movie. They dropped me off. And I went in and watched it. And then they pick me up afterward. And that movie blow me away with how great it was. I watch it so many times in my life since then. I loved Fire Fox and Iron Eagle too. Saw both those with my father. It seems like those years are coming back to me now. So many great movies and I loved the 1980s. It was a time of innocents and we thought nothing was impossible. It was the best years of our nation. And this makes me believe we have more to come. Just before that, I watch the 1st Space shuttle blow up live on TV in my high school classroom. That was a crazy year.
I personally thought the Charlie Sheen parody was better. If you're an adult and you still think the original TG was anything other than processed cheese with the corniest script and soundtrack since.. every cheesebag '80s movie; I don't know what to tell you. It was cool when I was 13, and totally retarded by the time I was 17. The Kenny Loggins-ing didn't do it any favors.
Looking at this Made me remember about Aurora alpha in CnC generals
It would be ingenious if it was really a real aircraft and the inclusion in the film was to hide its actual existence
Somewhere in China :
Boss: our next project is to build the Darkstar.
Workers: instructions not clear, builds UFO instead.
I watched the movie and the experience was terrific. I even booked the ticket few days before, so I can get the best seat. And believe me, I never regret every second of it!
Why do sites always get this wrong, the SR-71 was not the fastest plane, the A-12 was, I'm kind of surprised this site got it wrong
I think the A-12 was definitely more sporty in initial design but would it not be possible that the SR-71 over the years got pushed far beyond it's initial design limits (i.e. destroying engines) and maybe outperforming the A-12 which never got rung out because it followed a strict test program?
@@JM-nt5fm No, the A12 was faster.
You guys realize the A-12 and SR-71 are essentially the same plane right? And as far as I know the A-12 variants never became fully operational. As in never went to be used outside of being a testbed. Making the SR-71 the fastest OPERATIONAL aircraft. You guys have to watch how people say things. Screw you over when you don't.
@@hf117j : The A-12 was smaller and a single seat aircraft, it was also operational
@@hf117j They were the same design wise, but the A12 was much smaller, lighter and would only hold 68k vs 80k Ibs of fuel. And the A-12 was in fact, Operational, flown by USAF pilots that resigned their commission to join the CIA and fly for them. Once their tour was over, they went back to the USAF. Operational flights in 67-68 were over North Korea and North Vietnam, at least those are unclassified.
The Chinese will attempt to build their own Darkstar based on what they've seen in the Top Gun: Maverick and it will just end up in a movie
of their own as it'll be where it'll be most effective at, in....a movie
or a theme park
Not quite, they’ll take some inspiration and improve on the idea. China designs decent airframes, but their engines are not up to the standards. Remember, the Chinese engineers made their first nuclear submarine from a scaled model submarine (with interiors)…
Darkstar is just… that name.. man its just so fucking cool.
In the movie, the Lockheed Martin logo is clearly shown on flight controls. Not just "visible" but center frame and deliberately focused on.
Early/mid 90s KSSC Shaw AFB had Shaw fest airshow where they bring in a little of everything. They had a roped off section and in the middle were 3 landing gear in the triangle configuration. A sign said Stealth fighter. They went all in with warning signs and even put a MP standing there.
Funny to see so many taking pictures and trying to "see" the invisible plane.
Back in the late ‘80s we actually had an F-117 at a local air show. Complete with said Marine that confirmed he WOULD shoot me if I seriously tried to touch it! 😄
@@troyjollimore4100 I worked for my State's Aeronautics Commission which allowed me some inside access at events and on the ramp. KCAE Columbia SC had a B-2 Stealth stay over for it's dedication and naming to SC. Lets just say I was able to touch it...
I had full access and oddly enough the plane had no extra security. I also touched AF1 on multiple occasions, the Pop mobile and flew top cover for Thatcher, Gen Schwarzkopf. Never a picture taker or autograph guy but took every op to touch, a tour or a flight/
@@JIMJAMSC Was returning to Honolulu Int’l after an aerobatic flight when two National Guard F-15s did a VERY close pass with wing waggles going the other direction. When I mentioned how awesome it would be to get a flight in one of those, the plane owner complained that he was the State Aviation Inspector, and he was never offered the chance to fly backseat! 😄
Underrated comment. Hilarious if true and entirely believable. It sounds like military humor.
The SR-71 Blackbird was an absolutely gorgeous aircraft and I'm not talking about its appearance talking about its flight characteristics and performance, the Air Force indeed does have a new hypersonic aircraft coming out of the skunk works that is already in the United States Air Force inventory of operational aircraft, and remodels of drones which are very interesting there has been nothing like these aircraft ever before it is a quantum leap over the f-35 and F-22 SR 71 blackbird !!!
The blackbird has gotta be my favourite plane, ever, and considering when it was built it was light years ahead of its time, it's fucking gorgeous.
What's crazy is that Skunk Works actually OKAYED this! The most top secret aircraft designers in the world built an aircraft for a movie! They're busy working on the SR-72, B-3, Aurora, Black Manta, and other secret projects and they were just like, "Yeah, we can make a plane for your movie." And then China thinks its a real plane! The reason this film was delayed so many times could likely be attributed to how long it took Skunk Works to build such a realistic prop (Yes, I am aware that the delays were mostly caused by COVID-19).
It isn't crazy at all. What company wouldn't want to put out propaganda?
I saw something fly up the west coast of Scotland and it's got to be a new plane of some sort, but it flew faster than anything I have ever seen. I saw the vapour trail but not the plane and I couldn't hear it but the speed was incredible, and very low altitude. It was also daylight so nothing that was being flown secretly, just a black smudge with a long long long vapour trail.
Same!!!! Black smudge with a long vapor trail but I saw it in New York one early morning
Cue the chemtrail idiots..
So the thing is, there has already been mock-ups of the same concept going around china since like 2015, it is/will be a high altitude hypersonic unmanned drone called the “shadow sword” or” 暗剑”. It was first shown off in the 2016 Zhuhai air show as a model, then it was shown in 2020s zhuhai air show as a full-scale model.
They're scared we got one of em?
Any depiction of an airplane that is supposed to be hypersonic should be interesting to everyone.
They could’ve used the movie as a cover for the real deal. Showing up some “mock-ups” for the movie leads to no higher suspicions. In any case is a win-win. The Chinese will investigate the matter and divert resources either chasing a ghost or letting go the real deal unnoticed
If it is designed by Skunkworks, there might actually be some valuable information gained from this "mockup", so why not retask a satellite that is otherwise taking the same picture of a military base it is taking every day
Most of these aircraft will wind up looking more or less the same. There is very little that can be gleamed from the exterior design. Twin engine, cross between a delta, diamond, and flying wing (at least in terms of being wide and thin). Arrow shaped for lack of a better term. What makes or breaks it is the engineering and research and development into what goes beneath that.
Maybe they can build a SP-34R mockup next.
I dont think anyone's ready to see a plane shoot BACKWARDS
@@lonewolfhero3526
Gleb squadron?
You’ll notice the Skunk Works emblem on the darkstar sequence in the movie, on the aircraft’s tail.
Such a great film in theaters love it every second of it
SR-91, not SR-72. Falsely labeled "Aurora" after being listed in budget listings. There is no evidence it exists but that doesn't mean it doesn't. Also with Russia's announcement of a new MiG that can outperform the SR-71, I'm sure we've had a counter for it for quite some time.
Russia can’t afford to field optics on their infantry rifles. Any loud projects are just hot air.
@@commander31able60 who are you again?
@@D3RPTV a keyboard warrior and flat range operator.
It's not about all of speed anymore. The trend in fighter jets has actually been slowing down over the last generation anyway I'm pretty sure of the old Tom cat was just as fast "or faster" than anything coming out now. They have a whole lot of requirements those planes have to meet and all out top speed isn't necessarily one of them anymore.
Save the speed tech for the missiles, if they are hypersonic and you have long range targeting then planes don't need to be hypersonic. Hollywood has romanticised dog fighting ( so 1991). Even so Gulf war dog fights were really just turkey shoots.
well crazy speed and stealth and the ability to drop huge payloads id imagine is whats up, basically a blackbird loaded with weapons
That is likely due to the limits of the human body. If your going at Mach 3 and try to go into an inverted dive, your going to pull a lotta Gs and likely pass out. Once we get autonomous fighters (not attack drones) then they will definitely bump up the speed as high as they can.
I seriously doubt the Lockheed engineers would put anything vaguely plausable into the design of a movie mock-up from real development work on multi-billion dollar semi-black project designs let alone actual in progress 'open secret' next-gen hypersonic planes, and I doubt China would be stupid enough to believe they would.
In Japan, the movie didn't censor Mav's jacket. I loved it.
It definitely reminds one of North Korean leader, telling his rocket scientist, he wanted the missiles, "more pointy!" Elon joked with his Engineers about it!
After all, why not hide things in plain sight?
FINALLY somebody who DOESNT use clickbait
No matter what crazy idea it is, someone will put it on RUclips.
What if this is actually something real, and they used this opportunity to make it appear fake?
Misinformation or disinformation???
@@jtc1947 Misdirection I think.
if their prop turns out to be real, that would be perfect, cant wait to see it :v
@@rosseaualleys5805 Well I didn't mean the prop itself was real. Only that the prop was made, and appeared in a movie and so if a real model is out there, it would simply be said to be a prop from a movie, or upcoming movie.
@@RickySpanish12344 Might be a variation of SUN ZEE ? Confuse the enemy then compound the confusion? Don't quote me on that cause NOT really SURE if that is SUN ZEE or not???
The movie was incredible! The aircraft is definitely real. I remember the head of skunk works one time in an interview said he has seen technology that is way way beyond what we have ever seen. Go look it up!
"Advanced technology so good we could take ET home." Something like that
@Latest Obsession what he has ever seen before…
@Latest Obsession the head of skunk works said the tech he has seen was so incredible it is far beyond anything that we have today and anything beyond what he has ever seen up to that point. 👍🏻look at what Nick the guy above you said it was something like that.
The Chinese have yet to figure out how to make a decent engine -- for a jet, a carrier, a sub, a car....
China was like we are boycotting the movie but they watched it anyway so they could see what Darkstar is capable off. 😂
I have just seen Top Gun maverick and I loved every minute of it as I remember the first Top Gun movie it’s a Big thumbs up for me 👍 can’t wait to get it on blu ray but you have to see it on the big screen 👏👏😊
It looked so real... Thats because it probably was so real. Id bet that was a concept that either never got made, or was made and the sucked all they could from it giving us glimpses. And not the actual concept guys. They would have dusted a concept design off and built the shell leaving out or adding to it so its not an exact copy.
"they" love poking us with these dark projects. The mission patches... the names. C'mon.
It wasn't even called an "SR-71", it was "RS-71", just a misread at a press conference changed it😃
The only question I had was how he looked out of the cockpit after he buzzed his CO 😄
What if skunk works put design elements of a top secret existing aircraft in the props design without actually giving away the look of the real thing meaning the CGI model could have the wings of one top secret existing aircraft and the fuselage of another top secret existing aircraft and blended them together to create the fictional CGI model and mock up
It's more likely Skunk Works added details from design elements that didn't work, so any adversary trying to reverse engineer a hypersonic design would find themselves at a dead end.
One thing that drove me nuts about the preview clip was Maverick's pressure suit helmet being lit from inside. That's the last thing you want to do. Obviously the director wanted Tom Cruise's face visible, but that helmet would blind you.
@@dougrobinson8602 Yeah they do that anytime actors wear helmets. I remember it being talked about way back with first starwars and original battlestar galactica films. Actors said they couldn't see a thing with helmets on and lit up.
And or some real elements but in slightly different places so if they do manage to capture anything they shouldn't they can't be sure if it's now a movie project or the real thing. All round perfect misinformation campaign
Didn't they also "accidentally" design the missile operation room in the 1983 film WarGames along with all its launch procedures in such convincing detail that there was an investigation into how they knew so much? I think it was either WarGames or the B52 scene in Dr Strangelove.
It was Strangelove.
@@Jedibenuk ah cool
"if you've seen the first Top Gun"..
WRONG... See it REGUARDLESS.
No one at a younger generation has seen a 40 year old movie unless it was when they were babies or really enjoy films.
Not a high percentage of young ones but this film will make them want to Experience what we did all those years ago..
To be fair, "oh that, it's a prop for a movie" is a pretty good cover story - I can see why the PRC wanted to take a close look at it.
Yeah kind of an "Argo" situation
You do realize that Darkstar was being discussed in the 1990's in aviation circles and there were supposed to be "sightings" of it particularly in the desert southwest? Go look at the Aviation Week archives. You don't think the Chinese and everyone else read Aviation Week? It was often the case that those of us working in the aerospace industry back then would read Aviation Week articles and learn information we didn't know about the projects we were working on!
All I see here is movie hype.
its the Aurora, clearly we are comfortable with making it known now after its circled the globe for 30 years....whats wild is what is circling now haha
As a general rule I avoid all those silly, juvenile movies made by schlockmeister Jerry Bruckheimer, the man responsible for some of the most absolute bone-stupid ridiculous movies in history. But the more I see of this movie, the more interested I get in watching it. So yeah. It might be the first Bruckheimer-produced film I'll watch in 20+ years.
On the plus side I loved Oblivion which was also directed by Kosinski so yeah, I'm probably going to watch Top Gun: Maverick.
3:56 How realistic the dark star looks. Designed with skunk work engineers!
I thought it was just Hollywood BS, but but it turns out to be very realistic!
After watching your video, I picked up my phone, called my dad, and now me and him are gonna watch Top Gun Maverick Friday evening. Can’t wait 😆😆.
I'd love to know what skunworks charged to make that aircraft.
The original Top Gun was one of the deciding factors in me becoming a Marine Avionics technician (OOH RAH MALS-12 and 14). Always loved aircraft, fixed and rotary wing! Can't wait to see it. I'm going alone, my wife and kid will have to go with me on round 2.
$6 trillion
I'm sure that the mock-up was very professionally done, and that the Chinese and some other people would have been very interested.
However, my understanding is that deliberate errors are made with uniforms in TV shows and movies, so the wrong people can't make accurate copies of them. I have absolutely no doubt that something similar was done when creating the mock-up.
Lol... china tries to copy it and wonders why the cg is so tail heavy because they could only get it to sit on the landing gear as a prop by filling the nose with lead or tungsten even without real engines. God I would adore errors that massive but that well hidden
it has been known for many years that the USA has an ultra-secret plane which succeeded the Blackbird, it does not emit a supersonic shock and leaves strange wakes, so we suspect propulsion by MHD (which has been theorized for 40 years ), suddenly the appearance of a similar device in this film is not really surprising, even if we do not know exactly what it looks like
Not to mention the F-117 is supposedly retired but has been spotted in recent years over Area 51.
Either OPFOR training or maybe even the F-117 can be upgraded with better stealth technology.
Dude the Dark star scene was so badass
It's not going to be a question of if this movie is going to make money . it's a question now of how much. Something tells me fans of Aviation and Military Aviation are going to go nuts watching this, and considering I went to the theater three times to see the original.... Can you blame them?
Nope nope. It is just CCP propaganda. Paid for by china.
I got to see the advance screening as well. If you liked the first one you'll like second one. I just can't turn my brain off in movies that are supposed to be grounded in the real world any more. It was really because I know people who were on the TR during its filming and I have a connection to north island. So it was cool for me.
Hopefully the soundtrack is as good as the original.
dude dont be bashful, its the best fuckin movie you seen in decades am i right? it certainly sounds like thats the case and i cant wait
Darkstar was the call sign heard in the early 90s by an amateur radio guy of incoming suspected aurora landing at Edward's...it was going 6k mph according to estimates
john hamm's shadowing of larry david has paid off quite handsomely i say.