Factual error: At the end during Henry's funeral, the color guard is only holding the American flag and a Marine flag. They would absolutely have a Navy flag in the color guard. (01:50:00)
Factual error: There would not be so many people standing around on the flight deck without some type of ear and eye protection and a float coat.
Continuity mistake: In the beginning they are on the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72). Later they are aboard the the U.S.S. Carl Vinson (CVN-70) and end up on the U.S.S. Nimitz (CVN-68), yet the personnel are the same aboard all three ships.
Factual error: Captain Cummings is shown smoking a cigar inside of his office onboard the ship. This would never happen.
Continuity mistake: In the movie, the "Talons" are assigned to the USS Lincoln (CVN-72) which is shown at the early part of the movie. At the end, in the memorial scene, the ship they are on is the USS Nimitz (CVN-68), which is shown.
Factual error: During the scene in which the plane flies directly toward the ground at a speed of 2070 knots to deliver the bomb, after dropping the bomb and pulling up to fly horizontally through the city streets, there is no damage or anything created from a sonic boom. At that level and speed, the sonic boom would have been tremendous on the ground, even if the plane was designed to minimize the shock wave.
Factual error: The Talons and EDI take off on their first mission from the Philippine Sea, which means they have to fly west to reach Myanmar. They're travelling at Mach 4, and it's still daytime when they set off. If you travel west at supersonic speeds, you're actually outpacing the sun, effectively turning back the clock. But when they get to their target, it's dark.
Revealing mistake: When the talons and E.D.I. attack the fort during their first mission, the explosions show the use of pyrotechnics when A.T.S. missiles explode in a simple blast.
Factual error: On their flight suits the American flag patch on their right shoulder is facing the wrong way.
Continuity mistake: At the end when the two pilots are talking, Jessica Beil's character has steri-strips on the cut on her cheek, but the arm she got shot in isn't even in a sling and she seems to be using it just fine. The cut on her cheek would have healed long before her arm would have. She was also limping quite badly when Ben rescued her, but she stands/walks just fine here as well.
Character mistake: When Lt Gannon is in the dogfight with the Russian jets, he announces that he is deploying "chafe and flares." The term is spelled and pronounced "chaff", and any pilot would know that.
Revealing mistake: When Gannon goes to fly EDI out of the hanger, he fires a couple of rockets to destroy the enemy and trucks on the other side of the hanger doors. When the trucks and jeeps flip, you can see they are empty carcasses.
Deliberate mistake: On the map showing the location of all the 'Camel Hump' refuelling blimps, none of them are anywhere near the countries EDI visits in the film - the nearest one is more than a thousand miles away over the Pacific.
Factual error: The Fuel/Air explosive fired on the fort is shown incorrectly, FAE (shown as a large green missile) do not impact the ground, but rather explode in the air to give maximum coverage and devestation.
Plot hole: After E.D.I. goes rouge, Kara brings up his weapons list, which consists of 2 ThroatRippers, 2 ShockHammers, and 3 Blue Ferrets, so E.D.I. has 7 missiles. He fires two during the Russian dogfight, another two when he and Ben escape from Alaska, and another two at the Korean border - one of which is the last missile. That's 6. So where did the last missile go?
Continuity mistake: After crash landing, Jessica Biel is drinking out of the pond wearing black pants. A moment later, her pants are green when the villagers show up and she runs away.
Suggested correction: The mistakes are based upon the viewer misinterpreting assignment patches that the crew wear on their jackets. The patches reveal the ships named as "mistakes" but are actually where a crew member previously served. The ship's intercom is the only reliable source that the ship is the USS Abraham Lincoln.
The hull number on the flight deck absolutely changes from the Lincoln to the Carl Vinson during parts of the movie.