Tom Cruise Scored a US Aircraft Carrier for His Latest Mission

For fans of Tom Cruise's Mission: Impossible series, the Pentagon can answer the incredulous question at the climax of its latest trailer: "You gave him an aircraft carrier?"

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Yes, the US Navy and Air Force Special Operations Command decided to accept the mission: help the American actor's secret agent Ethan Hunt save the world. Or, at least make a movie about it.

For The Final Reckoning, which is showing in Singapore cinemas, Cruise and the crew spent three days in the Adriatic Sea filming aboard the USS George H.W. Bush, a nuclear-powered Nimitz-class carrier commissioned in 2009.

It is the latest cinematic incarnation of Cruise's career-long affinity for the US military and its aircraft (as well as doing his own stunts). It is an example of the Pentagon's willingness to showcase its hardware and martial might through a classic piece of American soft power, the Hollywood blockbuster.

The Pentagon has a long history as a supporting character, most famously the 1990 spy thriller The Hunt For Red October—the one where Scotsman Sean Connery plays a Soviet submarine captain.