[dingaling]

Interestingly the US military involvement in Top Gun was a reaction to their contribution to Final Countdown.

A US Navy Commander was dismissed for having authorized the use of US Navy assets for the latter film without appropriate 'controls' ( and technically he wasn't of appropriate rank to have signed it off ) . That's not a mistake they made with Top Gun.

[mpyne]

The Navy actually charged Paramount Pictures for the costs of operating a carrier for the film scenes.

Paramount tried to get the Navy to agree to refund some of the cost if Paramount let the Navy run a recruiting pitch before the movie in theaters, but Naval officials concluded (correctly) that Top Gun itself was as good a recruiting film as anyone could develop, and charged full price.