Cmdr. Karrie Lang, Combat Systems Officer aboard the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS George H. W. Bush (CVN-77), takes a selfie with Tom Cruise during a visit to the ship, on March 3, 2023. US Navy Photo
If the Navy chooses to accept it, USS George H.W. Bush (CVN-77) could get its big screen debut in Tom Cruise’s next “Mission Impossible” movie. Read More
Tom Cruise as Capt. Pete Mitchell filming Top Gun: Maverick. Paramount Photo
“Top Gun: Maverick” is a love letter to American naval aviation and comes as the Navy faces the toughest recruiting environment in a generation. Faced with a dwindling pool of potential sailors, the service could struggle to meet its Fiscal Year 2022 goal of bringing in 40,000 enlisted sailors and 3,800 officers into the sea service. But if history is any guide, the sequel to the naval aviation blockbuster might not do much to bring in new recruits. Read More
Tom Cruise speaking at the Tailhook 2020 symposium.
Tom Cruise, better known as Capt. Pete “Maverick” Mitchell, made a virtual appearance at a conference on Friday thanking the Navy for the assistance the service provided for the upcoming “Top Gun” sequel. Read More
An F-35C Lightning II assigned to Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 101 is positioned on the bow catapults of the Nimitz-Class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) March 17, 2018, in the Atlantic Ocean. US Navy photo
Hollywood’s latest take on naval aviation, Top Gun: Maverick, will likely pair the Navy’s new Lockheed Martin F-35C Lightning II Joint Strike Fighters alongside older Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornets, in the sequel to the 1986 blockbuster. Read More
An F/A-18E Super Hornet assigned to the Knighthawks of Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 136 takes off from a runway on Naval Air Station Fallon on April 11, 2014. US Navy Photo
As the fleet evolves with more high-tech tactical aircraft and longer-range strike weapons, the Navy’s air training ranges in the Nevada desert have become too small to accommodate realistic training. So Navy officials want more room to train Navy and Marine Corps pilots and aircrews more like they’d fight and sharpen their air warfare skills at the existing expansive range complex near Naval Air Station Fallon. Read More
The following is the environmental impact statement from the Navy on a proposed expansion of Naval Air Station Fallon, Nevada. Read More
USS Stout (DDG-55) fires its MK45 5-inch gun during a live-fire exercise on Jan. 6, 2014. US Navy Photo
The surface Navy will take a page from the naval aviation community and standup a new command to teach combined surface tactics to the service’s top surface warfare officers by the end of the year, Vice Adm. Tom Copeman, commander of U.S. Surface Forces said in a Tuesday presentation at the Surface Navy Association symposium 2014 in Crystal City, Va.
Dave Baranek was a technical advisor for the film, “Top Gun.”
When Tony Scott was hired to helm the motion picture “Top Gun,” he had been directing television commercials and music videos during a time-out from Hollywood after his first movie failed to achieve expectations. Producers Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer wanted offered Scott the job of director, thinking his talent for 30-second spectacles would give the film a look of tightly controlled chaos of the dog fighting and life onboard an aircraft carrier. Scott quickly fell in love with the concept and signed on.
To use fighter pilot lingo, Scott re-engaged into movie making with a bag full of knots and guns blazing. The result was not only the highest-grossing movie of 1986, but an enduring film that still finds an audience on television and it continues to be the most familiar image of Naval Aviation for a great many people.
Tony Scott died last week, an apparent suicide at age 68.
