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19FortyFive

Aerospace & Defense

The US Navy Once Had 51 Perry-Class Frigates. Today It Has 0, Its Replacement Program Was Cut From 20 Ships to 2, and the Next Frigate May Be a Coast Guard Cutter

Destroyers are specialists, frigates are generalists, and the US Navy currently has none of the latter. Sean Spoonts, a Navy veteran, traces how that...

Sean Spoonts1 hour ago

Varyag under tow in Istanbul. Mainland China purchased the former Soviet carrier, Varyag, from the Ukraine in 1998 for about $20 million dollars (US). The Varyag was the newer, sister ship to the Russian Kuznetsov. But the Ukrainian government had never finished the carrier after the fall of the Soviet Union and had tried to sell it to various concerns. As a result, the carrier fell into a state of disrepair. The Chinese bought the carrier and indicated that the holding company that had purchased it planned to tow it to Red China and make it a floating casino.

Aerospace & Defense

China’s First Aircraft Carrier Was Bought from Ukraine By a Travel Agency for $20,000,000 in 1998 Under a Plan to Make It a Floating Casino in Macau. It Was Commissioned Into the People’s Liberation Army Navy as the Liaoning.

The Varyag aircraft carrier had no propulsion and no crew, so it had to be dragged. Turkey refused passage through the Bosphorus for sixteen...

Harrison KassSeptember 11, 2026

Aerospace & Defense

The US Navy Bolted 32 Tomahawk Missiles Onto 58,000-Ton Iowa-Class Battleships. The Upgrade Took Their Reach From 24 Miles to 1,553.

The four 1980s Iowa-class warships fired 1,083 sixteen-inch shells in the Gulf War — 759 from Missouri, 324 from Wisconsin. Against $1.7 billion in...

Harry J. KazianisSeptember 11, 2026

Russian Tu-160 bomber. Image Credit - Creative Commons.

Aerospace & Defense

Russia’s Mach 2 Tupolev Tu-160 Bomber Is the Heaviest Combat Aircraft Ever Built and Carries Up to 12 Cruise Missiles on 2 Internal Rotary Launchers. Russia Has Built About 4 New Ones in 11 Years.

Two rotary launchers in the internal bay give the Tu-160 up to 12 cruise missiles. The armament list runs Kh-55SM, Kh-555, Kh-101/102, and the...

Isaac SeitzSeptember 11, 2026

Aerospace & Defense

Sorry, F-35: Saab Is Offering Canada 6,000 Jobs to Buy the JAS 39 Gripen. The Number Is Now as High as 10,000, and Ottawa Still Has Not Decided.

Roughly 10 major industrial partners and 250 suppliers would build the aircraft. Saab estimates 50 percent of the JAS 39 Gripen and GlobalEye work...

Jack BuckbySeptember 11, 2026

Aerospace & Defense

65 Years Ago, Former US Army General and President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s Warning About the Military Is Still One of the Greatest Quotes in Armed Forces History

"We annually spend on military security more than the net income of all United States corporations," Eisenhower told the country. It is the most...

Stephen SilverSeptember 11, 2026

The Challenger 3 Main Battle tank. Image Credit: Creative Commons.

Aerospace & Defense

Britain Is Spending Close to £2,000,000,000 to Field 148 Challenger 3 Tanks by 2030. An Investigation Found the Program May Slip 2 Years Because the Turret Power Traverse Gearbox — a Part Carried Over From the Challenger 2 — Is Not Strong Enough to Turn the Heavier New Turret.

The Ministry of Defence awarded RBSL £800 million in May 2021 for 148 Challenger 3 vehicles, near £2 billion across the whole of life....

Brandon WeichertSeptember 11, 2026

Aerospace & Defense

In 1987 Japan Agreed to Build a Licensed Version of the American F-16 Fighting Falcon Instead of Its Own Fighter. More Than 95 Percent of the Engineering Drawings Were Changed, and the Finished Mitsubishi F-2 Cost About $127,000,000 Each Against $30,000,000 for an F-16.

On March 11, 2011, the tsunami flooded Matsushima Air Base and submerged 18 F-2Bs in salt water. Five were scrapped. Japan repaired the other...

Steve BalestrieriSeptember 11, 2026

A U.S. Air Force F-35A Lightning II aircraft assigned to the 115th Fighter Wing, Wisconsin Air National Guard is parked on the ramp at sunrise during the 115th FW 2026 Combat Readiness Exercise, Operation Iron Orchid, at Volk Field Air National Guard Base, Camp Douglas, Wisconsin, June 26, 2026. Operation Iron Orchid is designed to assess and reinforce the wing’s ability to generate combat capability, sustain operations, protect personnel and resources, respond to evolving conditions, and execute mission-essential tasks in a realistic and challenging environment. (U.S. Air National Guard photo by Master Sgt. Mary Greenwood)

Aerospace & Defense

Canada Finalized an Agreement to Buy 88 Lockheed Martin F-35A Fighter Jets Back in January 2023. Almost 18 Months Into a Review Ordered by Prime Minister Mark Carney, Ottawa Is Committed to Only 16 of Them — and the First Ones Still Arrive This Year.

The F-35 has competition. Saab is pitching a mixed fleet. But the Gripen E flies on General Electric's F414, an American engine under U.S....

Jack BuckbySeptember 11, 2026

Su-57 artist rendering. Image Credit: Creative Commons.

Aerospace & Defense

Russia’s Su-57 Felon Has Exactly 1 Confirmed Export Customer: Algeria, Which Has Taken Delivery of 2 Aircraft. Estimates Put the Fighter’s Frontal Radar Cross-Section Between 0.1 and 1.0 Square Meters Against Roughly 0.0015 for the F-35A.

Russia ordered 76 Su-57s for delivery by 2027-2028. By early 2026 some estimates put the operational fleet at twenty to thirty. Moscow's defense industry...

Caleb LarsonSeptember 11, 2026

Aerospace & Defense

Canada Has Named Germany’s TKMS Preferred Supplier for Up to 12 Type 212CD Submarines, With the First 4 Due in 2034. Only 1 of Its 4 Existing Victoria-Class Boats Is Seaworthy, and Ottawa Has Never Published a Number for How Many Submariners It Will Need.

The Royal Canadian Navy lists the Victoria-class complement at 48 crew plus 11 trainees per boat. TKMS puts the Type 212CD core crew at...

Andrew LathamSeptember 11, 2026

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19FortyFive

Aerospace & Defense

The US Navy Once Had 51 Perry-Class Frigates. Today It Has 0, Its Replacement Program Was Cut From 20 Ships to 2, and the Next Frigate May Be a Coast Guard Cutter

Aerospace & Defense

China’s First Aircraft Carrier Was Bought from Ukraine By a Travel Agency for $20,000,000 in 1998 Under a Plan to Make It a Floating Casino in Macau. It Was Commissioned Into the People’s Liberation Army Navy as the Liaoning.

Aerospace & Defense

The US Navy Bolted 32 Tomahawk Missiles Onto 58,000-Ton Iowa-Class Battleships. The Upgrade Took Their Reach From 24 Miles to 1,553.

Aerospace & Defense

Russia’s Mach 2 Tupolev Tu-160 Bomber Is the Heaviest Combat Aircraft Ever Built and Carries Up to 12 Cruise Missiles on 2 Internal Rotary Launchers. Russia Has Built About 4 New Ones in 11 Years.

Aerospace & Defense

Sorry, F-35: Saab Is Offering Canada 6,000 Jobs to Buy the JAS 39 Gripen. The Number Is Now as High as 10,000, and Ottawa Still Has Not Decided.

Aerospace & Defense

65 Years Ago, Former US Army General and President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s Warning About the Military Is Still One of the Greatest Quotes in Armed Forces History

Aerospace & Defense

Britain Is Spending Close to £2,000,000,000 to Field 148 Challenger 3 Tanks by 2030. An Investigation Found the Program May Slip 2 Years Because the Turret Power Traverse Gearbox — a Part Carried Over From the Challenger 2 — Is Not Strong Enough to Turn the Heavier New Turret.

Aerospace & Defense

In 1987 Japan Agreed to Build a Licensed Version of the American F-16 Fighting Falcon Instead of Its Own Fighter. More Than 95 Percent of the Engineering Drawings Were Changed, and the Finished Mitsubishi F-2 Cost About $127,000,000 Each Against $30,000,000 for an F-16.

Aerospace & Defense

Canada Finalized an Agreement to Buy 88 Lockheed Martin F-35A Fighter Jets Back in January 2023. Almost 18 Months Into a Review Ordered by Prime Minister Mark Carney, Ottawa Is Committed to Only 16 of Them — and the First Ones Still Arrive This Year.

Aerospace & Defense

Russia’s Su-57 Felon Has Exactly 1 Confirmed Export Customer: Algeria, Which Has Taken Delivery of 2 Aircraft. Estimates Put the Fighter’s Frontal Radar Cross-Section Between 0.1 and 1.0 Square Meters Against Roughly 0.0015 for the F-35A.

Aerospace & Defense

Canada Has Named Germany’s TKMS Preferred Supplier for Up to 12 Type 212CD Submarines, With the First 4 Due in 2034. Only 1 of Its 4 Existing Victoria-Class Boats Is Seaworthy, and Ottawa Has Never Published a Number for How Many Submariners It Will Need.

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