October 2026

Aerospace & Defense

I Am a Retired US Army Special Forces NCO: The Best Striker-Fired Trigger in America Is Not on a Glock or an M&P. It Is on a $649 Walther.

American Rifleman's test guns broke between 4 pounds 8 ounces and 5 pounds, and put 27 of 30 five-shot groups under two inches at...

Steve BalestrieriOctober 5, 2026

USS Wasp CV-18 Aircraft Carrier Creative Commons

Aerospace & Defense

A destroyer that survived Utah Beach and a kamikaze bomb turned in front of an aircraft carrier at 24 knots off Newfoundland in 1952, after her executive officer said the turn would hit it, and was cut in half, killing 176, while the carrier was back at sea in 10 days

USS Hobson's executive officer objected that the maneuver would put her on a collision course with the aircraft carrier USS Wasp, lost the argument,...

Isaac SeitzOctober 4, 2026

Aerospace & Defense

I Am a Retired US Army Special Forces NCO: 15.87 Ounces Loaded, a Glock 42 Weighs Less Than an Empty Glock 19, and 12 Years On It Is Still the Smallest Glock

The G42's locked breech makes it soft-shooting for its size, but the recoil spring is stout enough that Larry Vickers helped build an $18.95...

Steve BalestrieriOctober 4, 2026

Aerospace & Defense

A tank with an unmanned turret and an armored crew capsule was shown off in 2015, kept out of its own country’s war because cheap drones might kill it, and is now being redrawn around a 152mm gun with 40 rounds, 24 in the autoloader, and a drone on a tether

The 152mm idea dates to the Soviet Object 195, which never entered production, and it forces a turret redesign, more internal volume and a...

Brandon WeichertOctober 4, 2026

Uzi Submachine gun. Image Credit: Creative Commons.

Aerospace & Defense

I Am a Retired US Army Special Forces NCO: 1.5 Million Uzis Went to 90 Nations for $2 Billion, and It Can Fire 600 Rounds in Just 1 Minute

Gal borrowed the telescoping bolt and grip-fed magazine from the Czech Sa vz. 23, built it from stamped steel, and gave the IDF a...

Steve BalestrieriOctober 4, 2026

Aerospace & Defense

A 65,000-ton aircraft carrier that cost £6.2 billion and £96 million a year to keep defends itself with three Gatling guns that reach about two kilometers and nothing that fires farther, leans on destroyers its navy is short of, and keeps getting sunk in exercises

The 65,000-ton aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth and her sister HMS Prince of Wales cost £96 million a year each to maintain, fly F-35Bs...

Brandon WeichertOctober 4, 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

19FortyFive

Aerospace & Defense

I Am a Retired US Army Special Forces NCO: The Best Striker-Fired Trigger in America Is Not on a Glock or an M&P. It Is on a $649 Walther.

Aerospace & Defense

A destroyer that survived Utah Beach and a kamikaze bomb turned in front of an aircraft carrier at 24 knots off Newfoundland in 1952, after her executive officer said the turn would hit it, and was cut in half, killing 176, while the carrier was back at sea in 10 days

Aerospace & Defense

I Am a Retired US Army Special Forces NCO: 15.87 Ounces Loaded, a Glock 42 Weighs Less Than an Empty Glock 19, and 12 Years On It Is Still the Smallest Glock

Aerospace & Defense

A tank with an unmanned turret and an armored crew capsule was shown off in 2015, kept out of its own country’s war because cheap drones might kill it, and is now being redrawn around a 152mm gun with 40 rounds, 24 in the autoloader, and a drone on a tether

Aerospace & Defense

I Am a Retired US Army Special Forces NCO: 1.5 Million Uzis Went to 90 Nations for $2 Billion, and It Can Fire 600 Rounds in Just 1 Minute

Aerospace & Defense

A 65,000-ton aircraft carrier that cost £6.2 billion and £96 million a year to keep defends itself with three Gatling guns that reach about two kilometers and nothing that fires farther, leans on destroyers its navy is short of, and keeps getting sunk in exercises

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

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