Brandon J. Weichert

USS Saratoga of the Forrestal-Class Aircraft Carriers

Aerospace & Defense

1,000-Pound Bombs Made in 1953 Turned a 75,000-Ton US Navy Aircraft Carrier USS Forrestal Fire Into a Catastrophe. 7 of the Korean War-Era Bombs Were Among the First to Detonate

Korean War-era 1,000-pound bombs with weakened casings cooked off within minutes, and crews fighting with water spread the burning fuel. The aircraft carrier USS...

Brandon Weichert1 day ago

Aerospace & Defense

The US Navy Began Building Its $22,000,000,000 Constellation Frigate at 87% of the Blueprints. A Year After Killing It, the Navy Is Buying a Coast Guard Cutter

Canceled last November after a 20-ship, $22 billion plan collapsed, the frigate is being replaced by an upgraded Coast Guard Legend-class cutter. HII has...

Brandon Weichert1 day ago

USS Enterprise Nuclear Aircraft Carrier US Navy

Aerospace & Defense

A Rack of 500-Pound Bombs Blew a 22-by-18-Foot Hole in Nuclear Aircraft Carrier USS Enterprise Beside a Tanker Holding 6,000 Gallons of Jet Fuel. She Was Back at Sea the Same Year

The USS Enterprise aircraft carrier fire burned more than three hours 70 miles from Pearl Harbor and knocked out the ship's own firefighting gear....

Brandon Weichert1 day ago

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 Weichert2 days ago

Aerospace & Defense

F-47 NGAD and F/A-XX: Boeing Now Builds US Air Force and US Navy Sixth-Generation Stealth Fighters. Now the Hard Work Begins

Broad wings, enormous internal volume and reinforced twin-wheel nose gear all point to a heavy, long-range carrier jet designed to strike from beyond China's...

Brandon Weichert2 days ago

USS Kingsville (LCS 36) sails toward Naval Surface Warfare Center, Port Hueneme Division (NSWC PHD) in California on a recent morning as a flock of brown pelicans flies low over the Pacific Ocean. Homeported in San Diego, LCS 36 is an Independence-variant littoral combat ship that was commissioned in 2024. The arrival marked the ship’s first visit to NSWC PHD, where it underwent a Combat Systems Assessment Team event to ensure combat readiness. Designed to operate closer to shore than guided-missile destroyers and cruisers, USS Kingsville is outfitted for mine countermeasures missions. (U.S. Navy photo by Eric Parsons)

Aerospace & Defense

The US Navy’s Littoral Combat Ship Is the Big Headache That Won’t Seem to Ever End

The Navy tried to offload its Freedom-class Littoral Combat Ships on South American partners, then pulled two off the sales list in January. It...

Brandon Weichert3 days ago

Aerospace & Defense

The US Navy Just Might Have Second Thoughts on the F/A-XX Aircraft Carrier Fighter

The new F/A-XX will be an expensive platform that cannot live up to its promise simply because the tyranny of distance is so great...

Brandon Weichert3 days ago

A-12 That Came From SR-71 Family USS Intrepid Photo Shoot 19FortyFive

Aerospace & Defense

The US Air Force Wanted 93 Mach 3 YF-12 Interceptors and Built 3. The Program Died in 1968, and Its Radar and Missile Went On to Arm the US Navy’s F-14 Tomcat for the Next 40 Years.

Kelly Johnson's idea was to turn the CIA's A-12 into a missile truck that could sit above 80,000 feet at three times the speed...

Brandon Weichert4 days ago

Four F-117 Nighthawks fly in formation during a sortie over the Antelope Valley recently. After 25 years of history, the aircraft is set to retire soon. As the Air Force's first stealth fighter, the F-117 is capable of performing reconnaissance missions and bombing critical targets, all without the enemy's knowledge. (Photo by Bobbi Zapka)

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.

The Navy had just lost the A-12 Avenger II and had nothing to replace the aging A-6 Intruder, so Lockheed pitched the F-117 stealth...

Brandon Weichert4 days ago

Aerospace & Defense

Germany’s Battleship Bismarck Displaced More Than 50,000 Tons. A British Biplane That Flew Under 140 MPH Jammed Its Rudders.

The Fairey Swordfish first flew in 1934 and joined the Fleet Air Arm in 1936, and by 1941 it looked like an antique: a...

Brandon Weichert5 days ago

19FortyFive

Brandon Weichert

Aerospace & Defense

1,000-Pound Bombs Made in 1953 Turned a 75,000-Ton US Navy Aircraft Carrier USS Forrestal Fire Into a Catastrophe. 7 of the Korean War-Era Bombs Were Among the First to Detonate

Aerospace & Defense

The US Navy Began Building Its $22,000,000,000 Constellation Frigate at 87% of the Blueprints. A Year After Killing It, the Navy Is Buying a Coast Guard Cutter

Aerospace & Defense

A Rack of 500-Pound Bombs Blew a 22-by-18-Foot Hole in Nuclear Aircraft Carrier USS Enterprise Beside a Tanker Holding 6,000 Gallons of Jet Fuel. She Was Back at Sea the Same Year

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

F-47 NGAD and F/A-XX: Boeing Now Builds US Air Force and US Navy Sixth-Generation Stealth Fighters. Now the Hard Work Begins

Aerospace & Defense

The US Navy’s Littoral Combat Ship Is the Big Headache That Won’t Seem to Ever End

Aerospace & Defense

The US Navy Just Might Have Second Thoughts on the F/A-XX Aircraft Carrier Fighter

Aerospace & Defense

The US Air Force Wanted 93 Mach 3 YF-12 Interceptors and Built 3. The Program Died in 1968, and Its Radar and Missile Went On to Arm the US Navy’s F-14 Tomcat for the Next 40 Years.

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

Germany’s Battleship Bismarck Displaced More Than 50,000 Tons. A British Biplane That Flew Under 140 MPH Jammed Its Rudders.

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