The tactics were a plot construct.
The deep valley/mountain bowl in which the target was located precluded a lot of weapon types, and a lot of delivery types, so that it had to be a manned aircraft delivery using low level ingress and a high G, high risk egress.
The Punch Bowl, a similar bowl in the Chocolate Mountains North of Yuma and the Salton Sea, has tanks and other armor for targets. Dropping live bombs in the Punch Bowl required a low level ingress, followed by a high pop (AB climb to mid altitude, roll over, pull into 45 degree dive) delivery. So, I've done the same type of attack, though it lacked the pretty scenery of valley streams and snow-capped peaks.
A heavy SAM threat, as part of a good IADS (Integrated Air Defense System - Including early warning radars, GCI radars, ELINT systems, Sam acquisition and targeting radars, SAMs themselves, and of course, fighter bases and fighters), precludes a lot of delivery tactics and a lot of weapon types.
You can take down an IADS, as part of a serious campaign, but it's a process, involves both kinetic and other methods, and is going to be viewed by the target nation as starting a full-scale war.
Taking out one target, on one strike, and leaving, as the Israelis did with Iraq's nuclear facilities at Osirak, is far more preferable to starting a full-scale war.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Opera
The tactics of low level ingress in a canyon were believable...and also convenient for showing off low level flying by Super Hornets.
The movie wasn't made to be totally realistic, it was made for general audiences, but the tactics, and the flying, were realistic enough. They were far better than the first movie. When you see dust kicked up on the desert floor (filmed near Fallon, from the looks of it) by a high-G pull up of an F/A-18 that was very low - that was a camera on a real F/A-18 flying very low.
Very low.
The enemy order of battle was also a plot construct. The "5th Generation fighters" looked a lot like the SU-57, which Russia hasn't yet exported because they've only built a few of them so far. They had to get an F-14 in there, so, yeah, a fictional adversary nation.
You bet I loved it when they decided to steal the F-14. The engines don't start that quick, and there isn't a round counter for the gun, but again, keeping the story/plot moving was a driver above technical accuracy. The sequences in the F-14 were filmed in the cockpit. Those switches, emergency wingsweep handle, and multitude of circuit breakers, were all authentic, even if their use wasn't exactly correct. You would use auto for the wingsweep, not the emergency handle, and full flaps, not flaps up, would've been a better choice for short field takeoff.
I talked about "splitting the throttles" to rapidly maneuver the airplane at low speed in my thread on the F-14. I smiled at that detail - they clearly talked to a Tomcat driver when they wrote this movie, even if not every detail was technically accurate.
Penny Benjamin was a really well done character - a link back to the original move, believable (yeah, I know, yacht, Porsche, beach house, but it's Hollywood, and the P-51 is out of reach of a Navy Captain, too) and beautifully portrayed by Jennifer Connelly, who was the right age for Maverick while still looking fabulous in her 50s.
I thought the inclusion of Val Kilmer, in his present condition, was a poignant and powerful link back to the first movie. The text exchanges were great. The missing man formation was as well done as I've seen them and the Veteran's Cemetery at Point Loma was a fitting site for his funeral. Wings pounded into a coffin was also a great plot point, done for many years as a tradition in the Navy, particularly among SEALs.
Many of the characters, while well done, made no sense from a billet/job perspective. "Hondo" the project director made no sense as the guy doling out pushups, or rigging the barricade. He wouldn't be immediately put in charge of the flight deck like that. The admirals were similarly multi-role in a way that made no sense - but having different characters in each of those roles - Strike Group Commander, Air Boss, Top Gun/NSAWC CO would've been too confusing for the audience and would've diluted the Maverick/Top Brass conflict that was key to the story.
In all, I loved it. Sure, it had some technical inaccuracies, but it was fun, it was believable, it was engaging and it had great flying.
A worthy and well-done sequel to the original.
Go see it.