Top Gun 2: Maverick, Tom Cruise goes hypersonic?

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The second trailer of the long-awaited Top Gun 2: Maverick, that will see Tom Cruise take back his iconic role as a fighter jet pilot, was released.

In this second episode, Pete “Maverick” Mitchell returns to service to train a new generation of pilots. But 33 years after the original story, it is likely that Maverick will need some adaptation to shine on the new battlefield. The two-minute fast-paced trailer gives a few glimpses of the changes we can expect.

Goodbye Tomcat

The original Top Gun was packed with two things: synthesizers and variable-sweep wing fighter jets. While the former have made a comeback, the latter became a thing of the past. Indeed in 2006, the U.S. Navy retired its last Grumman F-14 Tomcat.

The trailer opens on a Tomcat flying over snowy mountains. However, for the rest of the video, Maverick is seen performing high-flying stunts in an F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, its successor.

Hello hypersonic jets?  

If it starts by playing with our nostalgia, the trailer ends with a vision of the future. In the last seconds, Maverick can be seen wearing a high-altitude pressure helmet taking off onboard an unidentified plane that reminds of the unique SR-71 Blackbird.