The arrival this month of Top Gun’s long-awaited sequel perfectly captures the problem facing U.S. naval aviation.

The 1986 original took place during the late Cold War when Navy and Marine Corps aircraft ruled the waves, countering Soviet bombers or fighters at long range and holding submarines at risk across the North Atlantic. Three decades later, the U.S. military faces more challenging threats than the Warsaw Pact, but like the ageless Tom Cruise, naval aviation has barely changed.