I watched this movie at 150% speed, increasing every time pacing felt off. And it was still slow.

The message seems to be: even old "planes" can still perform.

Almost as if it was made for older conservative American males.

When you consider that, and it sure continues the Top Gun tradition, it checks all the boxes: token/trophy women, machismo, utterly faceless antagonist posing a vague nuclear "threat", utterly silly numbers going brrr (Mach 10, 9 G etc.), machismo, barebones plot laid out in detail in advance so to not shock the viewer, hostility towards novelty, military advertisement, and machismo.

At least the airplanes aren't CGI, mostly, allegedly.