19FortyFive — Defense, National Security and Military Analysis

SR-71 Blackbird Above the Earth Creative Commons Artist Image

Aerospace & Defense

A Cessna Asked Los Angeles Center for a Ground Speed Check and Got 90 Knots. A Beechcraft Got 125. A Navy F/A-18 Hornet Got 620. Then an SR-71 Blackbird Asked, and the Controller Came Back With 1,842 Knots — About 2,120 Miles Per Hour.

A Cessna got 90 knots. A Beechcraft got 125. Then an F/A-18 out of NAS Lemoore came on the frequency and got 620, which...

Harrison Kass2 hours ago

A Norwegian soldier of the Telemark Battalion, fires the HK416 with blank rounds toward a simulated target at Al Asad Air Base, Iraq, June 13, 2020. Coalition forces’ training is used to enhance base defense operations to provide better security in Iraq. (U.S. Army photo by Spc. Derek Mustard)

Aerospace & Defense

I Am a Retired US Army Special Forces NCO: HK Rates the 416’s Cold-Hammer-Forged Barrel at a Minimum of 15,000 Rounds. Some Users Report Passing 40,000. Tier-One Units Shoot More in a Month Than Line Units Do in a Year.

HK borrowed the gas system from the G36: a short-stroke piston drives an operating rod into the carrier so fouling never reaches the action....

Steve Balestrieri5 hours ago

Aerospace & Defense

I Am a Retired US Army Special Forces NCO: After More Than 2,000,000 Rounds of Testing, the FN SCAR Was No Favorite of US Special Forces

The requirement was one weapon family covering 200 meters in a hallway out to 800 meters in the sniper role, in two calibers, on...

Steve Balestrieri6 hours ago

A P-8A Poseidon assigned to Patrol Squadron (VP) 16 is seen in flight over Jacksonville, Fla. (U.S Navy photo by Personnel Specialist 1st Class Anthony Petry)

Aerospace & Defense

I Was a US Navy Anti-Submarine Warfare Operator: The Lockheed P-8 Poseidon Has Flying Torpedoes and Is Ultimate Submarine Hunter That Makes Russian Admiral Sweat

The P-8's AN/APY-10 radar has synthetic aperture and inverse synthetic aperture modes that produce video-quality images through rain, clouds, and fog, and it can...

Sean Spoonts6 hours ago

Aerospace & Defense

Russia’s ‘New’ Mach 4 MiG-41 Is the Fighter Time Forgot and Will Never Be the Equal of the US Air Force’s F-22, F-35, or F-47 NGAD

If Russia does build a MiG-41, it will most likely be a heavy interceptor. The credible version is a MiG-31 successor with better range,...

Caleb Larson8 hours ago

Dr. Andrew A. Michta: Geostrategy

Putin’s Next Target May Be NATO Itself

Aerospace & Defense

The US Navy Has No Way to Get Close to China Without Being Showered by Thousands of Missiles and Drones

Aerospace & Defense

The Great US Marine Corps Reboot Has Arrived

The Embassy

Russia and NATO’s Gray Zone Actions Could Spark a War No One Wants

Dr. Andrew A. Michta: Geostrategy

Dr. Andrew A. Michta: Geostrategy

Why the Witkoff-Kushner Mission Failed: Washington Still Misreads the Stakes in Ukraine

Dr. Andrew A. Michta: Geostrategy

Germany Is Becoming Ukraine’s Most Important Ally in Europe — and Poland Is Paying the Price

Dr. Andrew A. Michta: Geostrategy

NATO’s Answer to the Pentagon’s Europe Review Already Exists: The Eastern Flank Deterrence Initiative

Dr. Andrew A. Michta: Geostrategy

The Eastern Flank Comes First: Inside NATO’s Post-Ankara Turn Toward Forward Defense and Industrial Muscle

Aerospace & Defense

Aerospace & Defense

An SR-71 Blackbird Left Andrews Air Force Base in 1984 With Its Own Afterburner Blowing 1,500-Degree Flame Into the Wing. The Pilot Dumped 14,000 Pounds of Fuel to Get the Weight Off and Set 13 Acres of Maryland on Fire.

Aerospace & Defense

I Am a Retired US Army Special Forces NCO: NATO Asked for a Weapon to Arm Truck Drivers and Artillerymen Who Would Probably Never Fire It. It Ended Up With DEVGRU, GSG 9, GIGN and the US Capitol Police.

Aerospace & Defense

Lockheed Wanted to Put the F-117 Nighthawk on US Navy Aircraft Carriers. It Proposed 255 of Them at $70,000,000 Each — Almost $17,900,000,000 — and Congress Set Aside $175,000,000 Just to Study Whether It Would Work. The Navy Said No Twice.

Aerospace & Defense

The US Navy Planned to Deliver the Aircraft Carrier USS John F. Kennedy in July 2025. She Is Now Due in March 2027. The 20-Month Slip Came Down to Arresting Gear Certification and the Weapons Elevators — the Same 2 Systems That Held Up USS Gerald R. Ford.

Trillions

Trillions - 19FortyFive

‘Effectively Closed’: The Strait of Hormuz Oil and Gas Crisis Is Going from Bad to Even Worse

Trillions - 19FortyFive

21 Years Ago, Apple Founder Steve Jobs Advice on Time and ‘Living Someone Else’s Life’ Is the Truth Serum That Still Shapes Our World

Trillions - 19FortyFive

“Money Never Made a Man Happy Yet, Nor Will It. The More a Man Has, the More He Wants.” Benjamin Franklin Was the 8th of 17 Children, Got 2 Years of Schooling Because His Family Could Not Afford More, and His Face Is on the $100 Bill.

Trillions - 19FortyFive

Iran’s Economy Is Buckling. That Is Not the Same as Iran Being Ready to Sign a Deal

The Embassy

The Embassy

Putin’s Giant Gamble: Another Ukraine War Mobilization Is Filled with Unknown Risks and An Angry Russia Simmering

The Embassy

‘Pivotal Meeting’: Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Donald Trump Will Meet Today. Here’s What’s on the Agenda to Try and End the Ukraine War

The Embassy

The Race to Succeed Putin Has Begun

The Embassy

Putin Is Using Russia’s Election to Recruit for the War in Ukraine

Hermit Kingdom

Hermit Kingdom

Donald Trump Needs to Bring Concessions if He Wants a Deal with North Korea

Hermit Kingdom

What the Iran War Proved About America’s Nuclear Weapons Threat to North Korea

Hermit Kingdom

The North Korea Deal Donald Trump Should Actually Want

Hermit Kingdom

North Korea’s Fingerprints Are All Over Iran’s War Against America

Aerospace & Defense

A Cessna Asked Los Angeles Center for a Ground Speed Check and Got 90 Knots. A Beechcraft Got 125. A Navy F/A-18 Hornet Got 620. Then an SR-71 Blackbird Asked, and the Controller Came Back With 1,842 Knots — About 2,120 Miles Per Hour.

Aerospace & Defense

I Am a Retired US Army Special Forces NCO: HK Rates the 416’s Cold-Hammer-Forged Barrel at a Minimum of 15,000 Rounds. Some Users Report Passing 40,000. Tier-One Units Shoot More in a Month Than Line Units Do in a Year.

Aerospace & Defense

I Am a Retired US Army Special Forces NCO: After More Than 2,000,000 Rounds of Testing, the FN SCAR Was No Favorite of US Special Forces

Aerospace & Defense

I Was a US Navy Anti-Submarine Warfare Operator: The Lockheed P-8 Poseidon Has Flying Torpedoes and Is Ultimate Submarine Hunter That Makes Russian Admiral Sweat

Aerospace & Defense

Russia’s ‘New’ Mach 4 MiG-41 Is the Fighter Time Forgot and Will Never Be the Equal of the US Air Force’s F-22, F-35, or F-47 NGAD

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Aerospace & Defense

‘She Broke Free’: The CIA Used a Cover Story to Recover a Chunk of a Russian Ballistic Submarine Armed with Nuclear Warheads But Part of the Sub Slid Back Below the Waves

Aerospace & Defense

Boeing Spent $67,000,000 of Its Own Money Building YF-118G Bird of Prey Stealth Aircraft. It Flew 38 Times on Landing Gear From a Beech King Air and an Ejection Seat From a Harrier.

Aerospace & Defense

China’s J-20 And J-35A Stealth Fighters Don’t Have To Beat US Military F-22 Raptors And F-35s. Beijing Is Building Enough That They Don’t Need To

Aerospace & Defense

Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird’s Pratt & Whitney J58 Engines Ran at Full Afterburner for Hours at a Time With Exhaust Temperatures Near 3,400 Degrees. At Mach 3.2 Cruise, Roughly 80 Percent of the Thrust Came From the Inlet, Not the Engine.

Aerospace & Defense

$850,000,000 Australian Submarine ‘Sank’ $5,500,000,000 US Navy Nimitz-Class Aircraft Carrier By Evading US, Japanese, Canadian, Chilean, Korean, and British Forces — 6 Navies — and Photographed the Supercarrier