What are the enemy nations in Top Gun: Maverick?

if you see Top Gun: Maverick At some point in the past week, your hands were probably still shaking with the adrenaline rush, and your eyes were still full of tears after an ending that left so many American men wishing they’d figured it out before their father died. what movie.

The main task is maverick, in addition to the title character’s confrontation with his own death, is a group of impossibly handsome pilots – possessing a rare combination of precision, technology and physicality – to destroy a secret and illegal enrichment of uranium in an unnamed country facility. Only these pilots, under the direction of Maverick, could complete the bombing. Maybe not even them, as Vice Admiral Peevish Jon Hamm often reminds viewers.

This Top Gun The movie is the most powerful recruiting tool for the Department of Defense since the GI Act, so naturally the movie doesn’t say whose nuclear program Maverick and his students were ordered to annihilate. Doing so would invite diplomatic chaos and the country would gain nothing.

But like Maverick, Rooster, Hangman and their pals, I was given a mission.My editor came to me, idiot who wrote a long column six months ago On how Russia is no longer the tech thriller foe of the past, I believe I can identify this anonymous villain Top Gun: Maverick. Specifically, I can take me to unknown places before government agents show up, because that would disrupt U.S. diplomatic relations.

Well, mission accomplished.the enemy is Top Gun: Maverick is Iran. That’s why.

Knowing nothing about the film, the details of the mission briefing make Iran the most likely country. The target, an unfinished uranium enrichment site, excluded Russia, China and North Korea from the target list because these countries already possess nuclear weapons – Russia has thousands. Not to mention that an attack on any of these countries would instantly escalate into a major conflict.

Admiral Bates (Charles Parnell) says that the development of nuclear facilities also violates many treaties; this excludes India, Pakistan and Israel from consideration because they have all developed (or are suspected of having developed) nuclear weapons, But not a signatory to the NPT. (Purpose of the NPTEntered into force in 1970, limiting nuclear weapons ownership to five countries that already possessed nuclear weapons: the United States, Russia, China, France and the United Kingdom)

events described in maverick This isn’t the first time a country has used a small swarm of fighter jets to blow up an adversary’s nuclear program; in 1981, a swarm of Israeli Air Force F-16s destroyed a nuclear reactor in Iraq in a raid known as “Operation Opera.” (One of the pilots, Ilan Ramon, later became an astronaut and flew in the space shuttle in 2003 Colombia was destroyed. ) maverick The mission is similar to that, just multiplied by the Death Star trench run star wars: new Hopeplus some parental anxiety.

But the real strength of the site lies in the composition of the enemy air force: state-of-the-art stealth fighters and Cold War-era interceptors, including a handful of F-14s. Let’s process one group at a time.

monster fighter in maverick Called over and over again as a “fifth-generation fighter,” the term is used to describe a fighter jet that meets certain criteria: sustained supersonic flight capability; stealth technology; and so-called “super-maneuverability,” which directs engine thrust to perform The ability to maneuver beyond what is possible under normal aerodynamic conditions. As depicted in the movie, these fighter jets are often superior to 20th century designs such as the F/A-18.

One of two U.S. fifth-generation fighter jets, the F-35 maverick, but was not selected for the final task. (promised to be maverick is authenticity, and most convincingly, when a mission of world-historical importance arises, no one would suggest taking it The $1.6 Trillion Stealth Fighter That Doesn’t Work. At least Lockheed Martin got the Skunk Works logo on Maverick’s experimental hypersonic jet. )

bad guy plane in the original Top Gun It’s a fictional MiG-28, which is actually a black-painted American F-5 fighter jet.bad guy plane maverick Never named, but it is basically identical in appearance and capabilities to Russia’s top air superiority fighter, the Sukhoi Su-57. Su-57 has been offered for international sales, No recipients so farbut the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force (IRIAF) has purchased Russian-made aircraft in the past, Including MiG-29. It is not unreasonable to believe that Iran can buy the Su-57 at some point in the future.

IRIAF is somewhat convergent in composition. Its inventory includes Russian, French, British and even American aircraft.These were bought directly from the manufacturer, or captured from Iraq during the first Gulf War, or—for maverick— is a relic from before the 1979 revolution.

Before the current regime came to power, Iran was a monarchy whose leader, the Shah of Iran, received military support from the United States, including the sale of weapons and aircraft. When the king was overthrown, the IRIAF (formerly IIAF) continued — even in 2022 — to continue flying these American planes. This inventory includes the only converted 747 used as an air tanker, which is cool, if not strictly related to the movie. But it also includes dozens of F-14s.

Old F-14 inventory of unnamed enemy nation shown in first minute of satellite photo maverick, which alone should be a giveaway. Unlike most other American fighter jets, including the F/A-18 and F-35, the F-14 has never been popular with foreign buyers. In fact, the few F-14s flown by IRIAF are the only examples of this type exported overseas. They successfully fought against Iraqi fighter jets in the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s, and they are the only F-14s still in operation since the US retired its iconic interceptor in 2006.

A massive conspiracy design should have taken Maverick back to the plane cockpit that made him famous, but this design exists in real life. The only realistic way Maverick can get into an airworthy F-14 today is to crash in Iran after bombing a nuclear facility, sneak into an airbase with another pilot (preferably the son of his long dead good friend) and steal one from IRIAF. Frankly, it would be a screenwriter’s inappropriate behavior to not take advantage of these real-world situations.

there’s always the possibility maverick Just taking inspiration from the real world F-14 squadron in Iran, no hints at all. But if that’s the case, how do you explain Maverick’s radio call to the carrier saying he doesn’t have a nose gear (we saw damage on takeoff) or a tail hook, but it doesn’t show up? Carrier-based aircraft drag a hook behind them to grab arresting cables on the carrier’s flight deck, stopping the aircraft before they leave the bow. But Iran’s F-14s are modified for land-based operations, and so will find the tail hook useless to add weight. They will be the only F-14s that don’t have a tail hook installed.

Now, the enemy’s air inventory is not perfect Play with Iran. In contrast to the lighter colors and red, white and green circular markings of the real-world IRIAF, the crypto-Su-57 features dark paint and a red bird emblem.and Iran Flying Replica of American Cobra Gunshipsinstead of the Russian-made Mi-24, which chases downed calves in the snow.

Speaking of snow. Does the location of the actual mission, with its giant conifers, towering viaducts and mountains just miles from the sea, look like Iran to you? Granted, the actual landscape seems more Alpine than the Middle East.there is nothing like Top Gun universe, Gladiator action It never happened, Italy became a communist state in the 1970s, and by the late 2010s began flying MiGs and operating a secret nuclear program as a rogue state. But that seems unlikely for such a straightforward film.

Indeed, the mountainous terrain does not look like Iran because it is not. is California, near Lake Tahoe. But let’s discuss geography more broadly. Where in the world does a mission have to fly off an aircraft carrier?

If the rogue nuclear force was on the European continent, the attack planes would have taken off from NATO airstrips, most likely Air Force planes. If the hostile country is North Korea, the planes may take off from South Korea. If the enemy country is in the Caucasus, then the logical point of attack would be Turkey, where the US Air Force has a base. It would be most convenient to launch an attack anywhere on the Arabian Peninsula from an air base in Saudi Arabia.

However, the closest approach to Iran is by sea from the Persian Gulf.While 30 years of CNN and war movies paint a picture of a flat, hot, sandy Middle East, Iran has many snow-capped mountains similar to this one maverick depict.There are few places in the world where the topography suddenly shifts from sea to mountain as we see it maverickbut Iran is very close.

Mount Cumming Reserve, in the Zagros Mountains in southern Iran, looks like something you’d expect to find in Austria or Colorado, and has a comparable elevation. Are the Zagros Mountains right by the sea like in the movies? No, but to give an example: Kuh-e Khami, which is over 10,000 feet high and about 50 miles because of the crows coming from the Persian Gulf. Maverick’s plan for the Death Star trench run mission required his pilots to hug the deck at over 650 knots, called 750 miles per hour, for 2 minutes and 30 seconds. You can’t get to Kuh-e Khami from the water at that speed in that time frame, but you can easily get there in four minutes. Use the remaining 90 seconds for Hollywood embellishments.

All the evidence points so clearly to a conclusion that it is almost unbelievable. But what other country has a history of controversial nuclear tests, an air force that mixes Russian and American-made fighter jets — including the F-14 — and has a transonic fighter jet that can do it in less than 5 minutes? It’s better to take the lesson the cock learns at the end of the film: don’t think too much.