FORT WORTH, Texas — Engineers Brian Hershberger and Jim Walton of Lockheed Martin vividly remember when Paramount and filmmakers came to them with a project for the movie "Top Gun: Maverick."
Five years ago, Hershberger remembers being ecstatic at the idea of working on a film.
Lockheed Martin has consulted on a number of films over the years, but nothing like the hands-on approach needed to create the futuristic fighter jet Darkstar.
"They wanted something that could go mach-10 and look like it could go mach-10," said Walton.
"They wanted it to be impressive and believable," said Hershberger.
Mach-10 is ten times the speed of sound, or more than 7,000 miles an hour.
Walton told WFAA that the studio gave them a 15-week timeline to have a mock jet on the movie set. The engineers remember getting about five weeks to gather ideas and sketch out a design and ten weeks for the shop people at Lockheed Martin to build it.
Designing and building a full-scale mock plane required daily meetings with Hollywood concept designer Daniel Simon.
"We were able to have some open conversations of why these things look the way they do," said Walton.
WFAA asked if Darkstar could conceivably fly. "The cool thing about this is it sets that vision marker for the next generation," said Hershberger.
It's a project they quietly called Ghost Rider 2, which is a callback from the first Top Gun movie from 1986.
There are tons of easter eggs in the movie only the engineers would know in the newest "Top Gun: Maverick." The engineers told WFAA there are props the studio borrowed from Lockheed Martin that were featured in the film.
"There are a couple scenes where I can tell you what wall that came off of," Hershberger said with a laugh.
"Top Gun: Maverick" was nominated for Oscars in several categories: best picture, editing, original song, adapted screenplay, sound and visual effects.
"We didn't talk about it for five years and we're used to that. It's kinda fun to talk about it now," said Hershberger.