How I would write TOP GUN 3

Hinzugefügt: 2026-05-23

[00:00:00]Back in April, we learned that Pete Maverick Mitchell will be making a third appearance on the big screen in Top Gun 3. And if you've watched this channel for a while, you probably already know that I can't help but be psyched about that. I mean, over the years, Top Gun has been something of a recurring theme on this channel. Like back in the day when I argued that Maverick himself and his overblown ego was actually the villain of the original movie. Or when I was one of the first people to identify the Darkstar aircraft in the Top Gun Maverick trailers as an SR72 standin.

[00:00:35]And then of course there was the time when Jerry Brockheimimer himself told me that the Navy informed him that China reoriented their spy satellites to get a better look at the Darkstar mockup when they rolled it out onto the flight line.

[00:00:49]And that story actually ended up going on to make international headlines. But as much as I really do love Top Gun Maverick, there were some elements of the plot that really bugged me. namely the way the story hurried to explain away why F-35s couldn't be involved in the mission and how the job of bombing that subterranean nuclear complex would well obviously go to the Air Force and the B2 Spirit stealth bomber rather than the Navy. I mean, we actually saw that exact mission play out about a year ago in Operation Midnight Hammer. But don't get me wrong here. I'm not asking for 100% realism in my Top Gun movies. I mean, if I wanted that, I'd go to an air show. I know, for instance, that they didn't use F-35s because they needed the Super Hornets back seat to film the actors in the cockpit. What I am asking for are excuses that are well thought out and a mission that makes as much operational sense as you can muster in a story that is still about a 60-year-old man who, for some reason, is still flying sorties off of American flattops.

[00:01:55]But admittedly, that's plenty easy for me to say. Top Gun Maverick was written by a team that collectively brought us movies like The Usual Suspects, American Hustle, and The Transformers franchise, while I am a salty old Marine who makes YouTube videos in my office in Tennessee. So, if I want to be critical of their work, even in a loving way, it's really only fair that I try to put myself in their shoes and try my hand at coming up with what I think the plot of Top Gun 3 should be. So late one night last week, I sat down at my desk and got to work writing out a 12page or so summary of my proposed plot for Top Gun 3 that pulls heavily from the latest aviation technology of our day while keeping the same focus on groundedish somewhat realistic air combat action.

[00:02:48]And now it is time for me to put up or shut up and share my pitch with you to see if you guys think it's got what it takes to carry that legendary Top Gun mantle. I'm Alex Hollings and this is Top Gun 3, at least if I were to write it.

[00:03:13]Ground News helps you stay on top of everything going on in the world while also helping you see right through common forms of media bias and the sensationalism and hyperbole that's just so common today. Ground News does that by compiling stories from news outlets all over the world and then sticking them all into one easy to read feed.

[00:03:35]That doesn't just help keep me up to date on what's going on out there, but it also shows me the different ways different media outlets cover the same story. Like this one about Japan launching missiles from foreign soil for the first time since World War II, sinking a decommissioned Philippine Navy vessel from inside the Philippines during joint naval exercises. Now, ground News has already found coverage of this story on 67 different news outlets, and 16 of them are currently listed as politically centered. Here on the right hand side of the screen, we can see the bias distribution and factuality ratings for the coverage of this story with 42% of the sources covering the story listed as politically centered and 80% of them rated for high factuality. And ground news also shows you really important stuff about these news outlets along with their takes on the headlines like their political biases, their factuality ratings, their corporate owners, or any government affiliations. And you know me, I love the for you tab on ground news that helps me stay on top of the topics that I identified as important specifically to me. Ground News is a big part of my research and my day-to-day news consumption, and it can be for you, too.

[00:04:57]Just go to ground.news/sandbox with two X's. Or, you guys know the drill. Click on that link in the description below to get 40% off the same Vantage plan that I use. Again, that's ground.news/sandbox to get 40% off their Vantage plan.

[00:05:16]That'll help you stay on top of things.

[00:05:18]Our movie opens with Maverick, now in his early 60s and still a captain, staving off retirement to complete one final mission to pass on his dog fighting experience by heading the program that is training advanced AI agents for the specific role of flying new collaborative combat aircraft or drone wingmen and development. Now, he's being assigned this job directly by the Secretary of the Navy in a conversation that emphasizes that this job is the reason they've pushed back his retirement. Now, Maverick is passionate about this mission because it means every pilot will have a dedicated wingman to watch their back in a future conflict that increasingly seems all but inevitable. And as usual in these films, we won't name that nation, but context clues will make it clear that it's China. And the looming threat that we'll only vaguely touch upon is an invasion of Taiwan. Now, that shouldn't really be much of a problem for Paramount, who actually opted not to release Top Gun Maverick in China due to their sensors demanding the removal of a Taiwan flag patch from Maverick's jacket during pre-production. Now, Maverick has assembled a team of Top Gun graduates to fly in their FA18 Super Hornets against a specially modified Super Hornet that is based on the realworld analog X62 Vista. Now, in real life, the X62 is a heavily modified F-16D that not only boasts thrust vector control, something both F-16s and Super Hornets lack, but is equipped to be controlled by interchangeable AI agents that are being trained for various elements of the air combat mission. Now, these pilots include Lieutenant Marcus Mut Baron, the youngest of the group and a gifted stick and rudder pilot who distrusts AI and is very confident, even to the point of being cocky about his skills. Then there's Lieutenant Commander Elena Valkyrie Lawren, a former weapon school instructor and expert in beyond visual range combat, sensor fusion, and electronic warfare.

[00:07:28]Now she's also confident but a bit more reserved and serves as a foil for much gloating. Then there's Lieutenant Justin Eko Pedigrew, a graduate of Naval Test Pilot School who has already been involved in developing man-on-man teaming for the Navy due in part to his affinity for engineering and his general discomfort with interacting with other people. Then we've got Captain David Switchback Snodgrass. He was the first naval aviator assigned to the Super Hornet directly out of flight school and has since proven to be an expert pilot, an expert weapons school instructor, and an expert leader. He's very down to earth and has a bluecollar way about him. While civilians and contractors are directly involved in the drone and AI effort, the technical lead on maturing these AI agents is Top Gun's first ever truly enlisted sailor depicted on screen. Senior Chief Petty Officer Victor Ruiz, who has been transferred to Maverick's command as of the start of the movie. As he checks in, Maverick seems skeptical of artificial intelligence. He speaks to Ruiz without looking up from the file that he's inspecting. Tell me, Ruiz, what happens when the AI loses its battle space picture? Now, Ruiz somewhat dismissively replies with a canned answer that he's given a hundred times before. The agents don't really lose situational awareness, sir. They're continuously ingesting and prioritizing sensor inputs a lot faster than any human ever could. Maverick sits up in his chair and finally looks straight at Ruiz. That's not what I asked, he says. What happens when the inputs conflict? When it's getting mixed signals from jammed and damaged sensors?

[00:09:13]When the data link drops off and the sensor inputs are pointing in different directions? At what point does the system stop understanding intent and start chasing certainty? Now Ruiz is taken aback knowing that Maverick is actually pointing to a legitimate concern about this technology that was highlighted in a realworld 2025 research paper entitled the illusion of thinking.

[00:09:37]Nonetheless, he tells Maverick that he's confident that it will not be an issue.

[00:09:41]And Maverick replies, "Well, it better not be because I'm counting on you." And Ruiz chuckles confidently, asking to prove you pilots wrong about AI in the cockpit, sir. Maverick stands up and grabs his jacket. And as he walks toward the door, he puts a hand on Ruiz's shoulder. No, we need to prove them wrong. I need you to prove me right. We then cut to Maverick's team being given a tour of their new work area, which includes two hangers. one for the Super Hornets and another for the X3000 AI enabled Super Hornet and its requisite electronic support hardware. The tech guys milling about in the X3000's hanger are not overly nerdy or adversarial toward the pilots. They're calmly but even a bit charismatically confident in the capabilities of their AI. Mut questions whether a machine really can learn or if instead it'll just mimic the behavior of the pilots it observes. And one of the young civilians explains that the AI can not only learn but can continue to learn from real world engagements by repeating the entire event in their own virtual environment thousands of times over in between real world sorties effectively meaning that they learn at an exponential rate. Mut is still skeptical and claims that Elon Musk couldn't get cars to drive themselves and these guys think they can make the same tech into fighter pilots.

[00:11:07]Maverick, on the other hand, is quietly rooting for the AI to perform, but not because he's commanding this program.

[00:11:15]Rather, because Goose's son, Rooster, was killed a year ago after becoming separated from his wingman. Maverick recalls that Rooster and another Super Hornet were flying a freedom of navigation flight over the Taiwan Strait a few hundred miles from their carrier when they were intercepted by a group of adversary aircraft that included J20s.

[00:11:35]JH7A electronic warfare aircraft and H6 bombers armed with anti-ship missiles.

[00:11:41]One of the J20s performed an unprofessional maneuver, cutting directly in front of Rooster Super Hornet in very close proximity. Rooster shoved the throttles forward, trying to recover separation, but the disturbed air flow triggered a compressor stall in the left engine. The full authority digital engine control system started cycling and the jet dropped off the comm's network. And under heavy jamming, the destroyer mistook him for an inbound threat. That H6 bomber seemed to be on an intercept course with that destroyer and it believed they had fired a YJ12 anti-hship cruise missile. It launched an SM6 interceptor to defend which hit and killed Rooster. Now, I don't love using friendly fire in this story, but there are certainly real world precedents for it. Now, both nations ultimately opted to publicly write this incident off as a tragic accident. But tensions are still higher than ever, and Maverick knows it's only a matter of time before a real fight breaks out. And he also knows his flying days are all but over. His legacy, not that he would even care to call it that, is making sure no pilot ever heads into the fight without a wingman. And he's going to do that by training these robots fade to black. We return the following morning as training sordies begin. And we watch the X3000 taking off, but then shuttering a bit once airborne. In the control room, Valkyrie asks what that shutter was about. And Ruiz explains that the most effective way to create an AI pilot is actually to train multiple separate AI agents, each in very specific elements of the job. One agent handles takeoffs and landings, another handles formation flying, and so on. As the agents continue to train and collect data, an overarching AI system is also training to effectively blend these separate agents together into a singular AI that actually pilots the aircraft by selectively pulling from different skill sets. That main agent is the one that actually won DARPA's alpha dogfight trials back in 2020, but with restrictions added to it because it was too aggressive for a realworld environment, which was actually true of the heron AI system that won those exercises. She asks why the AI isn't just replacing pilots if it's so promising. And he says that the sheer complexity of the real world is still too much even for the most advanced AI.

[00:14:07]it'll be working fine right up until it gets overwhelmed and then it becomes unpredictable. So they established a safety baseline where if everything shuts down, the aircraft just returns to a safe airfield to land. In other words, it acts sort of like a person, but a really simple-minded one. Ruiz explains, "These AI agents need pilots to give them basic commands so they can really shine in the execution. The X3000 flies alone for the next few weeks, and the pilots joke dismissively about it while they take advantage of some RNR, giving us the perfect opportunity for a classic Top Gun volleyball scene. When the pilots get back, it's time to begin flying basic fighter maneuvers or simple guns only dog fights with the X3000. And each sorty begins with the X3000 flying in formation with the crude fighter until it's time to break off, create separation, and then start the engagement. Despite a very dramatic buildup, the first exercise actually ends pretty quickly with Mut Super Hornet scoring a gun's kill. Then Valkyrie goes up and she does too. And then Ekko goes up and scores a gun's kill again. The first day ends with the pilots laughing about how nervous they were before. Maverick looks at Ruiz with a worried but not an angry expression and Ruiz nods and says it's got to learn and it just got a crash course and three almost identical but subtly different ways not to win. It was isolating variables. Day two begins and ends in much the same way. Day three, however, sees a little variation with Mut starting to showboat a bit, even a bit dangerously before ultimately scoring a guns kill. Switchback looks to Maverick as if to say, "Aren't you going to say something about all that?" And Maverick just smiles and says, "I mean, hey, I taught him to do it." That night, as the pilots are leaving base for the day, they don't realize that the two jets that we can see taking off in the failing light behind them are the X3000 and Maverick and a Super Hornet. We join them where Maverick says he needs to speed up the AI's learning by giving it a crash course and how to fight. He tells Ruiz to disable the safety inhibitors that kept the X3000 from effectively just flying straight at its opponent guns blazing, which Ruiz reminds Maverick saw the AI beat a human every time in the digital environment at real risk to both aircraft. Maverick responds, "Well, let's just see what she's got." Now, notably, Maverick is the only one to anthropomorphize the AI.

[00:16:45]It doesn't have an emotional personality. It very rarely speaks or interacts other than just to transmit basic command statements in a monotone voice. Now the two jets are approaching one another at high subsonic speeds headon in the failing light. Inside the cockpit, we can see how pitch dark the surrounding environment is with Maverick only illuminated by his cockpit instruments. Maverick knows, however, that they're close. His finger tenses over the trigger on the stick. We cut to a wide shot of the two jets merging with simulated machine guns firing. They both quickly adjust angle as they very nearly collide. Maverick pulls hard, lines up the X3000 on his first turn, and scores a gun kill. He calls over the radio. I guess even robots flinch. They both chuckle and set up to fly again as we fade to black. We come back Monday morning with the now cocky pilots coming into work unaware that the X3000 had spent the weekend learning from Maverick and running thousands of simulations in a digital environment. As the X3000 takes off, Valkyrie notices that the shutter she had seen before. As the X3000 transitioned between AI agents was still there, but was a lot less evident.

[00:18:02]Switchback asks her what's up, and she says, "I don't know. Nothing. I mean, I I think it's learning. When it comes time to set up for BFM, the command comes over the radio and the X3000 breaks off in a much more aggressive but still very controlled manner. And that prompts Switchback to chuckle. I guess it is learning, he says as he takes up position to observe the engagement. This time things go pretty different from before with both aircraft maneuvering aggressively. But nonetheless, Valkyrie still wins, scoring a guns kill as time is about to run out. Back on the ground, Maverick and Ruiz exchange knowing glances. Mutz up next, and as he prepares to break off, he makes a joke about defending Valkyrie's honor, but ultimately he also scores a gunill with only about a minute in the exercise left. Up next is Switchback. And unlike the other two, the elder statesman of the team makes short work of the X3000.

[00:19:00]They leave for the day, and as they drive off base, we once again zoom past them into the background where we see Maverick and the X3000 taking off again into the sunset. We then cut to an aircraft carrier in the Pacific where hangman is airborne in his Super Hornet alongside a wingman flying another freedom of navigation sorty with two F-35C's shown launching soon after. As they fly through a thunderstorm, a nearby E2-D calls out over the radio to say that they have something on radar. And just then, hangman merges headon with a pair of J20s that catch him completely by surprise. He breaks right as the J20 split in either direction. Hangman's wingman shouts that he's been locked on as a J20 appears and takes up position behind him. Hangman, meanwhile, is flying his heart out in an effort to get behind one of the J20s when suddenly it just breaks off and flies away. Just then, Phoenix comes on over the radio and says she had a lock on him from 40 mi out in her F-35 before chiding him for trying to dogfight a stealth fighter that had already caught him with his pants down. Now, Hangman is notably stressed, but he is relieved that the incident is over, and he quickly regains the facade of his usual cocky demeanor.

[00:20:21]Back at the AI training center, it's been a few months now, and the AI agents are now winning dog fights just about as often as they're losing. Rather than having sour grapes about that, though, the pilots are enjoying the challenge of finding new and creative ways to beat the machine. And they say it's some of the most fun they've had in their careers. There's now a second X3000 Super Hornet flying sordies with them, allowing for some twoono engagements.

[00:20:48]After another day of training, Maverick and Ruiz have a beer, and Maverick explains why this mission is so important to him. Ruiz says they're pushing the limits of what the AI can do now. So, today pilots don't have to fight alone, and who knows, maybe one day they won't even have to fight at all. Maverick isn't so sure about that, but he still clinks classes with Ruiz.

[00:21:11]Anyway, sorties continue, and now the AI is getting really good. Human victories are becoming fewer and further between to the point where anyone who actually gets a win doesn't have to buy dinner.

[00:21:23]In the pursuit of a new way to win, Mutz starts reading up and comes across a series of academic papers about the AI's problem with being overwhelmed when faced with too many seemingly related but non-essential or contradictory variables. Mut reads the words on the screen out loud, causing prioritization collapse under ambiguous, rapidly changing inputs. Now he's got a plan.

[00:21:49]Mut approaches Ekko and tells him that he knows how they can beat the AI in their next sorting. And despite Ekko's initial reluctance, he agrees to join in. We then cut to the inside of Mut Super Hornet flying in formation before the engagement begins. When fights on is announced over the radio, he and Ekko don't break off as usual as they had in previous sorties and instead they start flying almost erratically, swapping positions, crossing underneath one another, dropping back and then pulling ahead. The X3000s seem unfazed, but the stunt has caught Ruiz's attention. He looks at Maverick. We train these agents to fight the most talented pilots we've got. I'm not sure they'll know how to handle whatever that is.

[00:22:34]on the screens monitoring the AI agents.

[00:22:37]We can see the X3000s starting to struggle to differentiate and prioritize the two Super Hornets as it first believes one is on the offensive and then the other and then the other and then loses track of which is which temporarily as the two piloted jets fly toward one another and then form up in extremely close proximity, roll and then break apart again. The X3000s attempting to predict the behavior of the fighters using the logic they've learned seem to hesitate before breaking off from one another to approach the swirling Super Hornet mass from multiple vectors. Mut recognizing that the X3000s aren't flying as aggressively as they have in the past, realize it's working and shouts, "Keep it up. We've got this."

[00:23:22]The two Super Hornets stack one at top another in very close proximity, rolling again before they split. And the monitor tracking the AI logic displays new text.

[00:23:33]Target prioritization instability.

[00:23:36]Engagement tree expanding. Confidence degraded. MUT and Echko keep pushing, seemingly giving up advantageous positions, crossing one another's fire lanes. Finally, one of the X3000s shutters in the sky as its monitor blacks out and reboots. The AI controlled aircraft breaks off and flies back toward the air strip, abandoning its still functioning wingman, which Ekko quickly eliminates with a gun's kill. Mut and Ekko celebrate their win in the cockpit, but down on the ground, nobody's very happy about what they just saw. The team is demoralized by the AI seemingly just quitting when it gets overwhelmed and prompting serious questions about whether this technology can really be trusted in a real fight and mirroring concerns about Maverick from the original Top Gun, who was also perceived as a wingman that would abandon you. Maverick, recognizing the importance of the moment, decides to tell the whole team why he's there, and why he hasn't retired yet, how important this mission is to him. He says he needs their help to get the tech to where it needs to be. Training the AI agents is the only way to fix the problem and the only way that they can save lives. So, the team doubles down on training with everybody now flying extra sordies and the agents maturing faster than ever.

[00:24:58]Before long, the AI is winning seemingly every bout, and they found ways to create operational redundancy so that when an agent shuts down, control seamlessly transitions to another one.

[00:25:11]It doesn't solve the confusion problem completely, but it makes the AI a lot more robust and trustworthy, at least enough to be a wingman that takes commands from a human pilot. The next day, the Secretary of the Navy arrives with a surprise for Maverick based on all the progress that they've been making. A new F-35C equipped with the X3000 control suite, allowing it to be piloted by the very same AI agents. Now, the human pilots aren't all that concerned about having to fly against the stealth fighter in close quarters gunsly dog fights, but the Navy Secretary says he wants to see how they fare using notional missiles.

[00:25:52]Now, Maverick says that's not a very fair training exercise, but under pressure from the senior official, he ultimately relents. The sorty begins with the Secretary of the Navy and the other suits now in the control room watching as Maverick runs the exercise.

[00:26:07]The human pilots are demonstrably competent, and they're employing all the tricks they've got to try to spot the F-35. But as they communicate with one another, the radar warning receiver lights up in one Super Hornet, and just then the other Super Hornet is hit with a notional sidewinder. That first jet breaks off and is clearly stressed, trying to find the F-35 when suddenly they're notified that they've been hit, too. Maverick turns to tell the suits that a close to beyond visual range engagement in an F-35 versus Super Hornets isn't exactly a fair representation of how these people can operate. But the SECNAV says that he's seen enough. As they all pour out of the room, they tell Maverick that they're requisitioning copies of the AI agents immediately. The next morning, Maverick's having breakfast when he sees the Navy Secretary on TV, announcing that the X3000 control suite will be installed in all of the US Navy strike fighters, allowing them to fly and fight autonomously without any human intervention. Ending his statement with the sentence, "The era of pilots is over." Maverick is furious. He walks out the door and hops on his motorcycle. And when he gets into his office, he calls the Secretary of the Navy to tell him that the AI is not capable of handling the complexity of modern warfare on its own. It needs human collaboration to manage the confusion. Maverick says, "Right when things are at their worst, right when you need them the most, the agents will collapse without support."

[00:27:42]The Navy Secretary dismissively responds, "You saw how easily one F-35 handled Super Hornets with this system.

[00:27:49]what's going to be overwhelming for a whole formation of these things.

[00:27:53]Maverick tries to argue, but the Navy secretary shuts him down, stating plainly that the first X3000 equipped F-35C's have already been fielded to operational units in the Pacific, and he wants Maverick's team headed out there immediately to provide direct support.

[00:28:11]We then jump to the flight deck of that same aircraft carrier in the Pacific with Maverick and other Navy officials looking down on a group of F-35s with empty cockpits as they taxi autonomously. In the background, we can see the two original X3000 Super Hornets, which Maverick's team brought in because they have the requisite hardware for manned unmanned teaming, just in case anything goes wrong with the AI. For a few days though, things seemed fine with X3000 F-35s flying regular sorties without any incidents at all. But as a group of F-35s flies another freedom of navigation sorty, they begin to pick up some electronic interference. Suddenly, their radar screens light up with dozens of inbound targets, some of which seem to be appearing and disappearing at random.

[00:29:00]It's clear that they're being jammed and spoofed. And the camera cuts to J20 escorts flying alongside H6 bombers, a Y9 LG electronic warfare aircraft, and more. Down below, what appears to be just a standard commercial container ship sees multiple containers open to reveal drones, which are launched via rocket before transitioning over to their own internal propulsion. It appears to be a full-scale attack on the carrier strike group. More AI piloted F-35 scramble and as they approach the area, their radar arrays also begin to light up. Ruiz looks to Maverick.

[00:29:37]They're filling their sensors with clutter and spoofing radar tracks to cause confusion. The F-35s respond assertively. But as the airspace gets more cluttered and the J20s with their drone wingmen close in, everyone aboard the aircraft carrier gets tense.

[00:29:54]The carrier strike group commander looks at Maverick. They won't fire first, he says in a tone that seems half like a statement and maybe half like a question. No, they've been programmed to adhere to the rules of engagement and they will not fire unless we give them the order or they're fired upon.

[00:30:11]Maverick says back in the air, a J20 crosses directly in front of an F-35C and that same aggressive maneuver we'd seen against Rooster. The aircraft stays on course but is buffeted by the jet wash. And just then, a drone flies straight across its nose to do it again from another direction. And then another drone does the same. And another one.

[00:30:32]The F-35 attempts to break away from the drones, but they stick with it, crisscrossing in front of the fighter as the J20 takes up position behind it, gets a lock with its PL10 infraredg guided missile, and fires. The F-35C goes down in a fireball and we pull back to see swarming contrails in seemingly all directions as Chinese fighters and drones flood the airspace. The order is given for the F-35s to engage. But just as one is about to fire at a J20 in the distance, it's also hit by an inbound missile. As the F-35 drones attempt to make sense of the convoluted battle space, we watch one shudder just like the X3000 Super Hornets used to. Then another one shutters as the first layer of its AI fails and it transitions to the next. Then another and another. A group of F-35s break off and start flying back toward the carrier, defaulting to those emergency safety settings. Now, if those X3000 F-35s fail, there will be nothing standing between the Chinese aircraft and that carrier strike group, which would be defended only by the air defense capabilities of the destroyers. Maverick looks at the strike group commander, who stares at him for a painful second before reluctantly nodding. Maverick looks to Valkyrie and tells her to come with him. We join those two naval aviators as they climb into their X3000 Super Hornets. And as the AI monitor readout indicates that it's active in Maverick's jet, he talks to it again.

[00:32:04]"Hey honey, did you miss me?" he asks as they prepare to launch. "Once airborne, Maverick and Valkyrie fly straight toward the returning F-35s at full afterburner. Mav says they need to get close enough to use jam-resistant line of sight comms to take command of those F-35s. And as they come into range, Maverick relays commands from the tablet on his thigh, while Valkyrie does the same. The F-35s immediately break off into two groups and loop around to form up alongside the two Super Hornets as they all collectively head back into the fight. Maverick takes a moment to inventory the situation and looks at his radar display, showing far too many targets. "Half of these tracks might not even be there," Valkyrie says over the radio. How do we pick out which ones are real? With their radars lit up with both real and fake targets, fighters, bombers, and drones, Maverick tells Valkyrie that they need to even the playing field. A pair of EA18G Growlers approach the back of their formation and call out over the radio that they're there to assist. And with their own jammers active, the Super Hornets and F-35s break formation and head into the fight. Maverick uses the F-35s to launch a salvo of AM Rams. And he flies directly over the F-35s into their smoke trails, using the outbound missiles as cover to launch an AIM 174 that rips through the smoke and tears across the sky, ultimately hitting and downing the KJ500, dramatically reducing the enemy fighter situational awareness. Just then, a J20 appears in position right behind Maverick, and the footage slows. It looks like Maverick is going to be shot down, but just before that J20 can launch a missile, it's hit by Maverick's AI piloted F-35 Wingman. The fighting continues. A J20 launches against Valkyrie, and as she dumps chaff and flares, her hand quickly types on the tablet. An X3000 F-35 flies directly into the missile's path and sacrifices itself to save her. As her fighter blasts through the explosion, she spots the Y9 LG electronic warfare aircraft in the distance. She launches an AM RAM, but it loses its target track, so she leans into the afterburner to get closer and then switches to her last Sidewinder. She fires and sends the prop plane spiraling down into the ocean.

[00:34:31]Cheers erupt throughout the carrier as radar screens clear up and everyone, human and drone alike, suddenly has a much clearer view of the battle space.

[00:34:40]The Navy's E2-D Hawkeye calls out that they're tracking all enemy aircraft, and they're bugging out, no longer interested in a fight now that the tides have turned. Back on the carrier, the jets all come in for a landing with the usual Top Gun fanfare on the flight deck. The Secretary of the Navy looks at Maverick and then at the deck, recognizing that his plan to do away with pilots had just crashed and burned.

[00:35:06]Ruiz approaches Maverick with a smile and a hug. I guess we've still got a lot of work to do, he says. Maverick looks back. Ruiz, the problem was never the machine, he says, looking back at the X3000. It was forgetting that she still needs us. And in classic Top Gun style, we close by pretending that fight wouldn't somehow start World War II. So, there you have it. That's my pitch for Top Gun 3. Now, is it as realistic as I was sort of hoping to make it?

[00:35:36]Objectively speaking, no, not really at all. In fact, what I really learned throughout this whole exercise is how hard it is to inject technical realism into the plot of a movie like Top Gun without sort of robbing the movie of its magic. I mean, you can only get so far down into the weeds before it stops being an action movie and starts being a documentary. And that just won't make anybody a billion bucks at the box office. But did I manage to balance the technical realism that I was looking for with what I think makes for fun on-screen air combat? I think I might have, but there's still a long way to go. I don't think that this plot, as I laid it out, is quite ready for the big screen. But I wrote this in a few hours, and the team writing Top Gun 3 is sure to have, well, you know, a lot more time to devote to it than that. So, I am honestly excited now more than ever to see what they come up with. But what did you guys think about my pitch? Would you rather have seen the new Top Gun focus on sixth gen fighters instead of AI? Was using China as my villain too on the nose? Or what liberties did I take with air combat that you think I shouldn't have? I mean, we can start with basically ignoring that BVR is a thing for the sake of the action and go from there. But maybe the most important question is where can I have shoehorned an F-14 in? Sound off in the comments below and tell me how your Top Gun sequel would play out. And that will do it for this very unusual episode of Air Power from Sandbox News. I'm Alex Hollings and thanks for humoring me on this one. Now, make sure you go to sandboxnews.com today and every day. Or better yet, just download our all-new and entirely free Sandbox News app, which is available for iOS devices right now and is still coming soon for Android. Now, it's got all of our fantastic written and video content in one place. And again, is entirely free.

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