September 2026

SR-71 Blackbird on the Tarmac Creative Commons Photo

Aerospace & Defense

NASA Has Made Job Offers to 2 Retired Engineers in Their Seventies to Help Restart an SR-71 Blackbird. The Aircraft Last Flew on October 9, 1999, and Nobody Has Turned Its Engines Since.

Tail number 844 flew the last SR-71 sortie anyone has flown, then went on a stand near the Armstrong Flight Research Center and stayed...

Brandon WeichertSeptember 30, 2026

Aerospace & Defense

The S-3 Viking: The Submarine-Hunting “War Hoover” Has No Equal Today on a US Navy Nuclear Aircraft Carrier

The S-3 Viking had ten hours of endurance, could make better than 500 mph at 25,000 feet, and carried a four-man crew with sonobuoys...

Sean SpoontsSeptember 30, 2026

F-14 Tomcat Museum Photo 19FortyFive Photo Taken September 2026

Aerospace & Defense

An F-14 Tomcat Pilot Could Sweep His Wings Back by Hand to Show an Enemy Fighter a False Airspeed. He Could Not Sweep Them Forward of What the Computer Commanded, Because the Lift Would Have Damaged the Aircraft.

The Navy walked out of the joint program with the Air Force because it did not believe a shared design could survive carrier operations,...

Isaac SeitzSeptember 30, 2026

ATLANTIC OCEAN (Feb 04, 2012) Aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (CVN 65). Enterprise is underway participating in exercise Bold Alligator 2012. Bold Alligator 2012, the largest naval amphibious exercise in the past 10 years, represents the Navy and Marine Corps' revitalization of the full range of amphibious operations. The exercise focuses on today's fight with today's forces, while showcasing the advantages of seabasing. This exercise will take place 30 Jan - 12 Feb, 2012 afloat and ashore in and around Virginia and North Carolina. (US Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Nick C. Scott)

Aerospace & Defense

Building Aircraft Carrier USS Enterprise Took Less Than 4 Years. Taking Her Apart Will Take Nearly 18. The US Navy Spent $902,000,000 Just Making Her Safe Enough to Sit at a Pier, and Another $111,000,000 Keeping Her There While It Decided What to Do.

GAO warned in 2018 that the job was closer to decommissioning a nuclear power plant than breaking up a ship, priced the public-shipyard route...

Steve BalestrieriSeptember 30, 2026

Aerospace & Defense

Oil Might Be Flowing Through the Strait of Hormuz, But for All the Wrong Reasons

Iranian crude still leaks out via the Caspian and land borders with Azerbaijan, Turkey and Turkmenistan. Saudi tankers are steering south through Houthi-held waters...

Michael RubinSeptember 30, 2026

This photo shows a head-on view of NASA's SR-71B, used for pilot proficiency and training, on the ramp at the Air Force's Plant 42 in Palmdale, California, shortly before delivery to the Ames-Dryden Flight Research Facility (later, Dryden Flight Research Center) at Edwards, California. NASA operated two of these unique aircraft, an SR-71A, for high-speed, high altitude research, and this SR- 71B pilot trainer for most of the decade of the 1990s. The "B" model is special because of its raised rear cockpit, which provided a second pilot position so a trainer and an experienced pilot could both see what was going on during flights.

Aerospace & Defense

The US Navy’s Iowa-Class Battleships Cost a Fortune for a Few Years at Sea. NASA’s SR-71 Blackbird Is Next

The Iowa-class battleships cost a fortune to revive for a few years of service. The Air Force buys new F-15s rather than pull Boneyard...

Robert FarleySeptember 30, 2026

Russian T-90 Tank. Image Credit: Creative Commons.

Aerospace & Defense

Russia Worked Out That Ammunition Stored in the Fighting Compartment Was Blowing Its Tanks Apart, So the T-90M Got a Bustle Magazine With Blowout Panels. It Kept the Carousel Under the Crew Anyway. Oryx Has Now Documented 159 T-90M Losses — More Than Russia Had When the War Began.

The T-90M was the answer to everything the earlier tanks got wrong: a welded turret, Relikt reactive armor, the Kalina fire control suite, and...

Isaac SeitzSeptember 30, 2026

Aerospace & Defense

‘Seals and Gaskets Have Dried Out and Would Crumble’: Why Bringing Back a Mach 3 SR-71 Blackbird Into the Sky Might Takes Years and a Lot of Cash

Reviving the SR-71 Blackbird means finding four J58 engines, replacing rodent-chewed wiring, building two JP-7 tankers and absorbing 300 maintenance hours per hour aloft....

Sean SpoontsSeptember 30, 2026

The Embassy

9/11’s Forgotten Lesson

Twenty-five years on, 9/11's lessons are still contested, except the simplest: the US mistook quiet for peace. A RAND strategist argues it is doing...

Raphael CohenSeptember 30, 2026

The aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN 68) steams in the Pacific Ocean, Oct. 5, 2024. Nimitz is underway in 3rd Fleet conducting routine training operations. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Second Class Carson Croom)

Aerospace & Defense

A Conventionally Powered Aircraft Carrier Refuels in a Few Hours. Refueling a Nuclear Nimitz-Class Carrier Takes 3 to 5 Years and Requires Cutting Holes Through the Decks to Reach the Reactors. USS John C. Stennis Is Finishing Hers 14 Months Late.

Newport News does every carrier refueling, and it starts by pumping a million gallons of seawater out of the drydock. Both reactors are shut...

Sean SpoontsSeptember 30, 2026

19FortyFive

Aerospace & Defense

NASA Has Made Job Offers to 2 Retired Engineers in Their Seventies to Help Restart an SR-71 Blackbird. The Aircraft Last Flew on October 9, 1999, and Nobody Has Turned Its Engines Since.

Aerospace & Defense

The S-3 Viking: The Submarine-Hunting “War Hoover” Has No Equal Today on a US Navy Nuclear Aircraft Carrier

Aerospace & Defense

An F-14 Tomcat Pilot Could Sweep His Wings Back by Hand to Show an Enemy Fighter a False Airspeed. He Could Not Sweep Them Forward of What the Computer Commanded, Because the Lift Would Have Damaged the Aircraft.

Aerospace & Defense

Building Aircraft Carrier USS Enterprise Took Less Than 4 Years. Taking Her Apart Will Take Nearly 18. The US Navy Spent $902,000,000 Just Making Her Safe Enough to Sit at a Pier, and Another $111,000,000 Keeping Her There While It Decided What to Do.

Aerospace & Defense

Oil Might Be Flowing Through the Strait of Hormuz, But for All the Wrong Reasons

Aerospace & Defense

The US Navy’s Iowa-Class Battleships Cost a Fortune for a Few Years at Sea. NASA’s SR-71 Blackbird Is Next

Aerospace & Defense

Russia Worked Out That Ammunition Stored in the Fighting Compartment Was Blowing Its Tanks Apart, So the T-90M Got a Bustle Magazine With Blowout Panels. It Kept the Carousel Under the Crew Anyway. Oryx Has Now Documented 159 T-90M Losses — More Than Russia Had When the War Began.

Aerospace & Defense

‘Seals and Gaskets Have Dried Out and Would Crumble’: Why Bringing Back a Mach 3 SR-71 Blackbird Into the Sky Might Takes Years and a Lot of Cash

The Embassy

9/11’s Forgotten Lesson

Aerospace & Defense

A Conventionally Powered Aircraft Carrier Refuels in a Few Hours. Refueling a Nuclear Nimitz-Class Carrier Takes 3 to 5 Years and Requires Cutting Holes Through the Decks to Reach the Reactors. USS John C. Stennis Is Finishing Hers 14 Months Late.

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