Twenty years after the US Navy grounded its last F-14 Tomcat, Congress could be about to change history. The US Senate has unanimously passed a bill that would hand three retired Tomcats to an Alabama museum, and one of them could be restored to full flying condition for the first time since 2006. Meet the Maverick Act, and the remarkable story behind it.

What the Maverick Act Would Actually Do

The bill carries an unmistakable name. The “Maverick Act of 2026” is a direct nod to Pete “Maverick” Mitchell, the fictional Navy captain played by Tom Cruise in the Top Gun films, and the connection feels fitting for legislation that could give a legendary aircraft one last curtain call.

Senator Tim Sheehy, a Republican from Montana, a Naval Academy graduate, and a former Navy SEAL, introduced the Senate version of the bill on March 23, 2026. Senator Mark Kelly, an Arizona Democrat, retired naval aviator, and NASA astronaut, co-sponsored it. In the House, Representative Abe Hamadeh of Arizona, an Army Reserve officer and combat veteran, introduced a companion bill on April 16, 2026, with nine co-sponsors.

The Senate voted unanimously on April 28, 2026, to pass the bill. All 100 senators voted yes. That level of bipartisan unity in today’s Washington is genuinely rare, and it says something powerful about what the F-14 Tomcat means to America. The House companion bill now awaits its own vote before the legislation can be signed into law.

Here is exactly what the Maverick Act proposes to do:

• Transfer three surplus F-14D Tomcats from Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona to the US Space and Rocket Center Commission in Huntsville, Alabama
• Complete the entire transfer at no cost to the federal government
• Require the Commission to bear all transportation, restoration, maintenance, and operations costs
• Allow one aircraft to be potentially restored to flying condition for airshows and commemorative events
• Require all three jets to be fully demilitarized, with zero weapons systems or combat capability
• Have the Navy provide excess spare parts from existing stock alongside relevant maintenance and operations manuals
• Permit the Commission to partner with qualified nonprofit aviation organizations for restoration work
• Include a reverter clause giving the Navy the right to immediately reclaim all three jets if any condition is breached

The bill is crystal clear that the jets must “not possess any capability for use as a platform for launching or releasing munitions or any other combat capability.” This is not a military reactivation. It is historic preservation with strict national security guardrails built in.

US Navy F-14D Tomcat airshow restoration Maverick Act 2026

The Three Jets at the Heart of This Bill

The Maverick Act names three specific aircraft by their Bureau Numbers, and each one carries real history on its airframe.

Two of the jets, Bureau Numbers 164341 and 164602, both served with VF-213 “Black Lions,” one of the very last US Navy squadrons to operate the Tomcat before the type’s retirement from active service in 2006.

The third aircraft, Bureau Number 159437, is arguably the most historically significant of the three. Known by its radio call sign “Fast Eagle 107,” this jet was assigned to VF-32 and flew off the deck of USS John F. Kennedy during the January 4, 1989 Gulf of Sidra incident, where F-14s shot down two Libyan MiG-23 Floggers in an actual aerial engagement. It is a combat veteran, not just a display piece.

All three aircraft currently sit at the Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group facility, known as AMARG, at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, Arizona. This is the famous “Boneyard,” where the US military stores thousands of retired aircraft.

The planned home for these jets, the US Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, is no ordinary museum. Established by the state of Alabama in 1970 and widely referred to as Earth’s largest space museum, it serves as the official NASA visitor center for Marshall Space Flight Center. The museum’s senior communications director said the Center was grateful to Senator Sheehy and his colleagues, adding that the senator had first-hand experience of how inspirational aircraft can be for future pilots and explorers.

Why Iran Forced the US to Destroy Most of Its Tomcats

To truly understand why the Maverick Act is historic, you have to know what the US government did to most of its retired F-14s, and why.

Iran ordered 80 F-14 Tomcats from the United States in the 1970s. Seventy-nine were delivered before the 1979 Islamic Revolution cut ties between Washington and Tehran. The new Iranian government inherited these advanced American-built fighters, and Iran kept flying them for decades under strict US sanctions and without any manufacturer support.

When the US Navy retired its own F-14 fleet in 2006, the Pentagon immediately became worried. Iran was the only other country operating the Tomcat, and retired American jets sitting in the desert were a potential source of spare parts that could keep Tehran’s fleet in the air.

The response was sweeping. Retired F-14s at Davis-Monthan were deliberately shredded and destroyed to prevent any components from reaching Iranian hands. Congress reinforced this by restricting all sales and transfers of F-14 parts under national security laws. For nearly 20 years, no exception existed.

That national security landscape changed dramatically in early 2026. On March 7 and 8, 2026, Israeli airstrikes targeted Iran’s 8th Tactical Fighter Base in Isfahan, the base that housed the 81st, 82nd, and 83rd Tactical Fighter Squadrons and served as the home of Iran’s entire Tomcat fleet. The Israel Defense Forces announced the destruction of multiple F-14s on the ground as part of the broader Operation Roaring Lion campaign.

“The Maverick Act of 2026 creates a narrow exception to the post-retirement restrictions that have destroyed nearly all F-14s, ensuring that its legacy is preserved. It does not restore combat capability or reopen foreign transfer.” – Representative Abe Hamadeh’s office

Before those strikes, defense analysts estimated Iran had between 20 and 25 F-14 airframes, though only a small number were believed to be truly airworthy. As early as 2024, only a single Tomcat appeared at Iran’s Kish Air Show. Many defense analysts now believe that Iran’s operational Tomcat era has effectively ended, which may be a key reason Congress is now willing to allow an American F-14 to fly again for the first time in two decades.

Can a 20-Year-Old Grounded Tomcat Actually Fly Again?

The Maverick Act opening the legal door is one thing. Getting a Tomcat actually off the ground is an entirely different challenge.

These aircraft have been sitting in the Arizona desert since 2006. When the Navy parked them, many critical components were removed from the airframes before they entered storage. What remains is, in many cases, a shell that would need rebuilding from the inside out.

Before a single airshow flight, the restored jet must meet every Federal Aviation Administration airworthiness requirement, and that certification process alone could take years.

Here is a straightforward look at the major hurdles between the bill and an airborne Tomcat:

The bill’s language allows the Navy to provide excess spare parts from existing stock, but that supply is limited and non-negotiable. The Navy is under no obligation to procure anything new on the Commission’s behalf.

There is, however, a useful precedent. The Collings Foundation restored an F-4D Phantom to flying condition, making it the only airborne Phantom in the United States. The Maverick Act specifically allows the Space and Rocket Center to follow that same model, entering into agreements with qualified nonprofit aviation organizations for the restoration and operation of the jets.

It is also worth noting something from the world of Hollywood. When the production team for Top Gun: Maverick used a real F-14 Tomcat in 2022, the jet was only used for taxi runs, hangar scenes, and cockpit close-ups. All the actual flying sequences in the film were digitally generated, because no airworthy F-14 existed anywhere in the world at the time. If the Maverick Act passes and the restoration succeeds, that will no longer be true.

America’s most iconic carrier-based fighter, a jet that served the US Navy for 32 years, starred in one of Hollywood’s biggest blockbusters, and outlasted its own time by continuing to fly under Iranian colors long after US retirement, may finally get the send-off it deserves. Whether the House votes yes, whether the funding comes together, and whether the restoration crews can pull off one of the most complex warbird projects in US history remains to be seen. But for the first time in two decades, the possibility is real. Drop your thoughts in the comments below, and if you have a connection to the F-14 Tomcat, whether as a veteran, an aviation fan, or simply someone who grew up watching it tear across movie screens, share this story and let people know what it means.