“Secretary of War” Pete Hegseth cosplayed as Tom Cruise on Sunday, taking a tour of the skies in the same fighter jet the Hollywood star flew in Top Gun: Maverick.
The defense secretary, 45, went airborne as a passenger on a F/A-18 Super Hornet for a demonstration flight at Nevada’s Naval Air Station Fallon, alongside Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Dan Caine, who flew his own F-16 fighter jet.
Hegseth made sure his Top Gun moment got airtime, posting pics on X alongside the caption, “The Chairman and I took a ride into the danger zone with TOPGUN at Naval Air Station Fallon. Incredible Americans.”
Welcome back from your flight @SecWar pic.twitter.com/2KOv6Rl1rK
— DOW Rapid Response (@DOWResponse) October 19, 2025
“Danger Zone” appears to be a reference to the Kenny Loggins song featured in the 1986 movie.
Videos posted by Hegseth’s deputy assistant on X show the Fox News host-turned-Pentagon chief climbing into the fighter jet and taxiing at the base, then gingerly descending the aircraft’s ladder about an hour later.
Hegseth’s cosplaying stunt was called out ahead of time as a waste of resources amid the ongoing government shutdown and controversial military strikes in the Caribbean, according to The Washington Post.
The Chairman and I took a ride into the danger zone with TOPGUN at Naval Air Station Fallon. Incredible Americans. pic.twitter.com/8IlRZaAObw
— Secretary of War Pete Hegseth (@SecWar) October 19, 2025
“There are better uses of his time than in a simulator and on training flights for what is effectively a stunt,” Dan Grazier, a Marine veteran and senior fellow at the Stimson Center think tank, told the Post. Pointing to the bombings in the Caribbean, he said “not only are we inflicting casualties, but American troops are also in harm’s way. So I would prefer our nation’s leaders are keeping a closer eye on the ball.”
The Daily Beast has reached out to the Pentagon for comment.
The defense secretary’s aerial outing came just hours after he announced that the U.S. had carried out another strike on an alleged drug trafficking boat in international waters, killing three.
. @SecWar @PeteHegseth is currently flying in a FA-18 Super Hornet with Top Gun Pilot Lt Commander Dillon “Bodacious” Hamrick in the same plane used by Tom Cruise. pic.twitter.com/buDwReA8kL
— Tami Radabaugh (@TRadabaughDOW) October 19, 2025
The Trump administration’s campaign against supposed “narcoterrorists” traveling to the U.S. from Venezuela has killed at least 32 people and sparked outcry over the legality of the strikes, including from GOP lawmakers like Sen. Rand Paul.
Hegseth is also coming off a chaotic span of days at the Pentagon, where dozens of journalists chose to walk out instead of sign his unprecedented restrictive media policy last week.
The defense secretary—who was recently described by staffers as “manic” and “crawling out of his skin”—declared last month that journalists must only publish information the Pentagon expressly approves of.
The new guidelines were nearly unanimously rejected by news organizations across party lines.
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