Certified for thrilling action sequences and thrilling footage of next-gen aerial combat, Top Gun: Maverick charter quickly turned into a monumental success. But the makers couldn’t have done it without the experience of some of the world’s leading aviation experts, and it requires the attention of Lockheed Martin Skunk Works engineers to create their own physics-breaking hypersonic Darkstar jets.

Not wanting to reveal any aspects of the plot, the Darkstar plane appears at the beginning of the movie as Pete “Maverick” Mitchell (played by Tom Cruise) performs his duties as a US Navy test pilot. The futuristic fighter is a stunning introduction to the film’s hyperreal aesthetic, but it can also impress with a familiar aura of aviation enthusiasts due to its resemblance to the SR-71 Blackbird, one of the most revered aircraft in history.

Seeking expert assistance in creating the Darkstar aircraft, the filmmakers drew attention to the Lockheed Martin Skunk Works unit responsible for the SR-71, its future successor the SR-72 and the U-2 reconnaissance aircraft. This collaboration has created a new way for underground Skunk Works concept designers to express themselves, in the sense of having this aircraft design they can share with the world, as concept designer Jim explains in this video.

The unit’s engineers later turned these structures into a full-size prototype aircraft with a solid fuselage and a functional cabin. The filmmaker says they lowered the plane a bit to make it look thinner and faster, but praised the “exciting” cabin design and impressive visual effects they helped create in the opening episodes of the movie. Source