October 2026

Aerospace & Defense

The B-36 Had a 230-Foot Wingspan, 10 Engines and a 10,000-Mile Range, Survived 5 Attempts to Cancel It, and None of Nearly 400 Built Dropped a Bomb in Anger

Designed in 1941 to strike Europe from the Western Hemisphere if Britain fell, the B-36 was saved by Gen. Hap Arnold the day Hiroshima...

Brandon WeichertOctober 4, 2026

Aerospace & Defense

The US Military Destroyed $600,000,000 in SR-71 Blackbird Parts After Retirement, the Jet Needs 300 Hours of Maintenance per Flight Hour, and NASA Still Wants to Fly One

Mike Relja, who kept NASA's SR-71A flying, told Aviation Week 'I just don't think you can get there from here.' The F-14 has been...

Christian D. OrrOctober 4, 2026

Mosin-Nagant Rifle Creative Commons Photo

Aerospace & Defense

I Am a Retired US Army Special Forces NCO: 37,000,000 Mosin-Nagant Rifles Were Built in Russia Alone, and Donbas Conscripts Carried Them Into Ukraine in 2022

Remington and Westinghouse built 3.3 million Mosins for the Tsar before the Bolsheviks refused to pay, and US troops carried them into Russia in...

Steve BalestrieriOctober 4, 2026

Aerospace & Defense

A 100,000-ton US Navy nuclear aircraft carrier hit a tanker and lost F/A-18s to friendly fire, a tow tractor and a snapped arresting cable, investigators found undermanned watches, skipped maintenance and a ‘just get it done’ culture, and the fleet behind her is 18,000 sailors short

A Senate letter put the bill for military mishaps from 2020 to 2024 at $9.4 billion, 90 lives and 89 aircraft, with Marine Corps...

Sean SpoontsOctober 4, 2026

USS Iowa (BB-61) Fires a full broadside of nine 16/50 and six 5/38 guns during a target exercise near Vieques Island, Puerto Rico, 1 July 1984. Photographed by PHAN J. Alan Elliott. Note concussion effects on the water surface, and 16-inch gun barrels in varying degrees of recoil. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the the Department of Defense Still Media Collection.

Aerospace & Defense

Four US Navy battleships mothballed for decades came back in 1982 for $1.7 billion to answer a Soviet nuclear battlecruiser, one plan cut off an aft 16-inch turret for a Harrier flight deck, the Navy bolted on 32 Tomahawks and 16 Harpoons instead, and all four were gone by 1992

Reactivating USS New Jersey alone was estimated at $247 million in 1982, about $857 million today. The battleships got AN/SPS-49 radars, SLQ-32 electronic warfare...

Isaac SeitzOctober 4, 2026

Aerospace & Defense

Lockheed Drew Up an SR-71 Blackbird Firing 210-Kiloton Nuclear Missiles From 80,000 Feet at Mach 3.2, Range 500 Nautical Miles, and Half Would Have Missed

Ben Rich's paper reshaped the Blackbird's forward fuselage with blunter chines, a rounded underside and a longer nose for radar to fit the 14-foot...

Brandon WeichertOctober 4, 2026

A-12 Oxcart. Image Credit: Creative Commons.

Aerospace & Defense

The SR-71 Blackbird’s Ancestor Was Redrawn in 1961 to Carry 4 Nuclear Bombs at Mach 3.2 and 90,000 Feet, Then the Air Force Chose the 6-Engine XB-70 Valkyrie

Gen. Curtis LeMay and SAC commander Gen. Thomas Power both took interest in the RB-12 in 1961, but the XB-70's backers inside the Air...

Brandon WeichertOctober 3, 2026

(July 29, 2025) The Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Princeton (CG 59) fires its forward Mark 45 5-inch gun during a weapons maintenance shoot, July 29, 2025. The Carl Vinson Carrier Strike Group is underway conducting routine operations in the U.S. 3rd Fleet area of operations. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Jacob I. Allison)

Aerospace & Defense

A 122-missile cruiser had $161.15 million set aside for a four-year overhaul and was decommissioned before a worker touched her, one of four the Navy retired mid-upgrade after putting $1.84 billion into them, and the three it finished leave the fleet in 2029

USS Hue City had $161.15 million allocated for her upgrade and was decommissioned before work began. A 2024 GAO report counted 9,000 contract changes...

Isaac SeitzOctober 3, 2026

Spc. Scott Kuzminski, a sniper with Scout Platoon, Headquarters Company, 3rd Battalion, 325th Airborne Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division, provides overwatch protection for troops on the ground with his M21 sniper weapon during an operation Jan. 8 in Baghdad (US Army photo by Pfc. Mike Pryor, 82nd Airborne Division Public Affairs)

Aerospace & Defense

I Am a Retired US Army Special Forces NCO: The M21 Sniper Rifle Put 10 Rounds Inside 10 Inches at 900 Meters — About 1 MOA — Out of a Semi-Automatic Rifle in the Late 1960s

Hand-selected National Match barrels, individually fitted receivers, fiberglass bedding, epoxy-impregnated walnut, and triggers set between 4.5 and 4.75 pounds. Fielded as the XM21 and...

Steve BalestrieriOctober 3, 2026

Aerospace & Defense

I Am a Retired US Army Special Forces NCO: The Aftermarket Solved the Glock 48’s Capacity Problem in 2019 With a 15-Round Metal Magazine. Glock Took Until April 2026 to Ship Its Own.

Seven and a quarter inches long, 18.31 ounces empty, and 1.10 inches across the frame — against a Glock 19 at 1.34 inches and...

Steve BalestrieriOctober 3, 2026

19FortyFive

Aerospace & Defense

The B-36 Had a 230-Foot Wingspan, 10 Engines and a 10,000-Mile Range, Survived 5 Attempts to Cancel It, and None of Nearly 400 Built Dropped a Bomb in Anger

Aerospace & Defense

The US Military Destroyed $600,000,000 in SR-71 Blackbird Parts After Retirement, the Jet Needs 300 Hours of Maintenance per Flight Hour, and NASA Still Wants to Fly One

Aerospace & Defense

I Am a Retired US Army Special Forces NCO: 37,000,000 Mosin-Nagant Rifles Were Built in Russia Alone, and Donbas Conscripts Carried Them Into Ukraine in 2022

Aerospace & Defense

A 100,000-ton US Navy nuclear aircraft carrier hit a tanker and lost F/A-18s to friendly fire, a tow tractor and a snapped arresting cable, investigators found undermanned watches, skipped maintenance and a ‘just get it done’ culture, and the fleet behind her is 18,000 sailors short

Aerospace & Defense

Four US Navy battleships mothballed for decades came back in 1982 for $1.7 billion to answer a Soviet nuclear battlecruiser, one plan cut off an aft 16-inch turret for a Harrier flight deck, the Navy bolted on 32 Tomahawks and 16 Harpoons instead, and all four were gone by 1992

Aerospace & Defense

Lockheed Drew Up an SR-71 Blackbird Firing 210-Kiloton Nuclear Missiles From 80,000 Feet at Mach 3.2, Range 500 Nautical Miles, and Half Would Have Missed

Aerospace & Defense

The SR-71 Blackbird’s Ancestor Was Redrawn in 1961 to Carry 4 Nuclear Bombs at Mach 3.2 and 90,000 Feet, Then the Air Force Chose the 6-Engine XB-70 Valkyrie

Aerospace & Defense

A 122-missile cruiser had $161.15 million set aside for a four-year overhaul and was decommissioned before a worker touched her, one of four the Navy retired mid-upgrade after putting $1.84 billion into them, and the three it finished leave the fleet in 2029

Aerospace & Defense

I Am a Retired US Army Special Forces NCO: The M21 Sniper Rifle Put 10 Rounds Inside 10 Inches at 900 Meters — About 1 MOA — Out of a Semi-Automatic Rifle in the Late 1960s

Aerospace & Defense

I Am a Retired US Army Special Forces NCO: The Aftermarket Solved the Glock 48’s Capacity Problem in 2019 With a 15-Round Metal Magazine. Glock Took Until April 2026 to Ship Its Own.

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