Over three decades after the events of the first film, Captain Pete "Maverick" Mitchell is serving as a U.S. Navy test pilot who has avoided promotion to continue flying. As Rear Admiral Chester "Hammer" Cain approaches to shut down the hypersonic "Darkstar" scramjet program and redirect the funds to drone programs, Maverick flies the prototype to its Mach 10 speed objective in advance prior to Cain's arrival, but pushes further into high-hypersonic speed, destroying it. Cain wants to ground Maverick for his recklessness, but sends him instead to NAS North Island as a TOPGUN instructor, under the orders of Maverick's friend and former rival, Admiral Tom "Iceman" Kazansky, the commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet.
