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Kelly McGillis, who played Tom Cruise's love interest in "Top Gun," claims she wasn't asked to reprise her role in the sequel "Top Gun: Maverick." In the 1986 original, McGillis' character, Charlotte "Charlie" Blackwood, is not only Maverick's lover, she's also his flight instructor. Entertainment Tonight asked the actress if she'd attend any of the film's promotional events, and she was diplomatic yet candid in her response, admitting, "I don't know how to answer that because one, it hasn't happened. Two, if and when it did happen, I would have to assess where I am, what I'm doing, what's going...

Eagle-eyed viewers have spotted a curious discrepancy in the first trailer for “Top Gun: Maverick,” the sequel to the beloved ’80s classic “Top Gun,” which Paramount debuted Thursday — the patches on the iconic leather jacket worn by star Tom Cruise no longer bear the Taiwanese and Japanese flags. One possible reason for the difference could be that “Top Gun: Maverick” is being produced, in part, by Tencent Pictures, a Chinese film distributor and production company. Tencent has co-financed films like “Wonder Woman,” “Kong: Skull Island,” “Venom” and the upcoming “Terminator: Dark Fate.” China and Japan have long had a...

China is building a potent air launched anti-ship cruise missiles along with aircraft to carry those weapons. Meanwhile, the once-dormant Russian bomber force is back—though not in the numbers of the Soviet era. Moreover, with the emergence of new adversary stealth aircraft—some of which have the capability to fly very high and very fast—which are also armed with cruise missiles, the Navy will need the range and speed that the Tomcat offered to fend off those threats. The F/A-18E/F can do the job—but only to an extent.The United States Navy retired the venerable Grumman F-14 Tomcat in 2006 after more than three decades in...

" The Critical Drinker Published on Jul 19, 2019 Sometimes, just sometimes, a movie pops up that actually makes me really happy. This could well be one of them."

No copy just a LINK

Tom Cruise has heralded the start of shooting on Paramount’s long-anticipated “Top Gun” sequel. Cruise tweeted an image late Wednesday featuring his character, Pete “Maverick” Mitchell, looking at a fighter jet down the tarmac. The teaser image for “Top Gun: Maverick,” which Cruise also posted on his Instagram page, featured the legend “Feel the need,” a reference to the original film’s legendary quote, “I feel the need – the need for speed,” accompanied by the hashtag #Day1.

Kinda speaks for itself. But, might I say to all MiG-21 detractors, the Fishbed is still one of the finest jet fighters ever produced, and I believe exported to more countries than any other supersonic jet. RESPECT THE MIG....it's the pilot who's to be pitied. So speaks Da J Maj.

Civilian pilots could soon be training up the RAF’s “top gun” fliers as the military budget comes under increasing strain. Private defence companies are jostling for position ahead of an expected deal to help develop the skills of pilots flying Britain’s frontline Typhoon fighters. Civilian pilots are understood to be working with the RAF at Coningsby airbase as weapons instructors on the Typhoon, with negotiations taking place about authorisation so they can fly the supersonic military aircraft. Although no contracts have yet been put in place, such an arrangement would help pave the way for an Air Defence and Operational...

Donald Trump Jr has continued his attack on CNN by tweeting a meme of his father blowing up the 'fake news' network. Trump Jr's tweet comes less than a week after President Donald Trump tweeted an edited video clip of himself 'beating up' CNN. The president's son re-tweeted a short video that was edited to show Trump shooting and blowing up a missile with CNN's logo superimposed on it. The meme was originally tweeted by @OldRowOfficial on Saturday morning with the caption: 'Hey @CNN we heard you like memes'. Trump Jr re-tweeted the video ten minutes later, saying: 'One of...

I the late 1980s, F-14 Tomcat pilot and Topgun instructor Paul Nickell found himself strapping into the cockpit of a brand new Navy jet that would never land on an aircraft carrier. Instead, it was built specifically to challenge the skills of the best fighter crews the Navy had to offer. It was a stripped down, up-engined, exotically painted variant of the already nimble F-16. General Dynamics built only 26 of them, and the fleet served less than a decade before being controversially retired, but the impression the jet made was legendary. For part one of a multi-part, in-depth series...

We’re blasting along through the bumpy mid-day air at a brisk 480 knots, 500 feet above the desert. The ride is rough, and the purposeful rumble of our engines reminds me that it takes a lot of power to push this machine through the dense air at 800 feet per second. Fortunately, we have a lot of power. To my left at about a half mile is another Tomcat, and a mile ahead are two more. We fly in an offset box formation, each of us carrying two Mk 84 2,000-pound bombs. I’m the radar intercept officer (RIO) in an...

Aviadarts is Moscow’s Top Gun Chinese and Russian fighter pilots have been testing their skills in an unprecedented series of maneuvers in southeast Russia. Some observers have billed the Aviadarts exercise as a Russian Top Gun—a reference to the U.S. Navy’s fighter tactics schoolhouse, which the sailing branch established after losing a shocking number of pilots during the Vietnam War. The reality is not as straightforward, but it’s significant that Moscow is inviting foreign fighter jocks—the Chinese, namely—to test their mettle against the best Russia has to offer. Russian air force units long have pursued advanced tactics and combat training,...

Tom Cruise is returning to theaters soon in "Edge of Tomorrow," so we took the highway to the Honest Trailer Vault and dusted off our vintage trailer for 1986's "Top Gun," Tom Cruise's classic movie about super-manly dudes, Kenny Loggins, and beach volleyball. Oh, and flying planes.

Flying the Flanker A few years ago, Tactical Air Support was, for a brief period, an operator of a pair of privately-owed Soviet-built Sukhoi Su-27 Flankers. The company's senior vice president and chief operating officer Gerry Gallop, who previously served as a US Navy instructor pilot at TOPGUN and who has flown the F-4 Phantom II, F-14A and B, F-15, F-16, the F/A-18 series and the A-4, a recalls some of his initial transition flights in the Flanker. One sortie that stands out in Gallops' mind was a combination functional check flight and navigational training sortie over the Ukraine. "I...

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...

Director Tony Scott died in an apparent suicide Sunday by jumping off the Vincent Thomas Bridge near Long Beach, Calif. He was 68. Los Angeles County Coroner Lt. Joe Bell told TheWrap that investigators had identified the deceased, Anthony David Scott of Beverly Hills, as the director and producer. The British-born "Top Gun" and "Crimson Tide" director was also the brother and producing partner of director Ridley Scott. The U.S. Coast Guard told The Daily Breeze that a suicide note was found inside Scott's black Toyota Prius, which was parked on one of the eastbound lanes of the bridge. Officials...

For the third time in the last six months the Israeli Air Force has hosted foreign fighter pilots for tactical training. Israeli fighter pilots are considered the best trained in the world, and Israel maintains a special training program, complete with pilots trained and equipped to operate as likely foes would, to train their own pilots. The latest nation to send fighters and pilots for training is Poland, flying F-16s in for that purpose. Previously, Italy had sent Typhoons and Tornados and Greece F-16s. The Israeli training center is based on the one pioneered by the U.S. Air Force Red...

PJTV: Top Gun, Whittle Style. Bill fries some chickens, kills a few bandits and punches the afterburners while living the dream of flying an F-18 training simulator. How can you live your dream? Bill Whittle give you some hints during this gripping tale. And comeback every two weeks for a brand new Afterburner on PJTV.

The next generation of Top Guns may be gamer geeks. That's because the X-47B just took its very first flight, heralding a whole new era of military flying--automatic or remote-piloted, stealthy, deadly combat aircraft. Technically the X-47B is an unmanned combat air vehicle (UCAV), but what it really is is an evolution of those Global Hawk and Predator drone aircraft that made the Iraq War look like a computer game when viewed at the military's tech hubs, mixed in with the same kind of stealth technology that makes the B-2 Spirit bomber such a powerful, frightening tool of force projection....

India is replacing its MiG-27s with Su-30s at TACDE (Tactics and Air Combat Development Establishment). TACDE develops new air combat tactics and trains pilots to deal with potential enemies. TACDE was established in 1971, to train the top one percent of fighter pilots, who would then spread what they learned from each other, to all the other pilots. Two years earlier, the U.S. Navy had established the original "Top Gun" training program. This used American aircraft for "aggressor (or dissimilar) training." This was in response to the poor performance of its pilots against North Vietnamese pilots flying Russian fighters. What...