Plane does not have to be in active service, but must be a real life plane that actually physically flew during filming. The plane flown doesn't have to be actually armed with the latest gadgets, but the plane shape has to be extremely similar to those that are intended for service. Fully CGI ones don't count.

I'm hoping for some next gen propaganda films a la Top Gun, but not sure if they'll ever show up. The Michael Bay Transformers films were decent, but I want more and am hoping the Chinese finally make a decent propaganda popcorn flick.