19FortyFive — Defense, National Security and Military Analysis

A-12 Avenger II Creative Commons Computer Mock Up from 2023

Aerospace & Defense

The US Navy Fixed a Price on Stealth Technology Nobody Had Invented Yet, and the A-12 Avenger II Never Flew. 35 Years Later Boeing Lost $4,900,000,000 in a Single Year on the Same Kind of Contract.

Lockheed refused to bid. Northrop refused to bid, and told the Navy its cost estimate was at least $2,000,000,000 short. The contract fixed a...

Harry J. KazianisSeptember 9, 2026

SAN DIEGO, Ca. (Nov. 4, 2025) - The Medal of Honor awarded to Capt. Jacklyn Harold "Jack" Lucas, a U.S. Marine who became the youngest recipient of the distinction at age 17 during World War II, is displayed aboard the ship that received his namesake, the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Jack H. Lucas (DDG 125). Jack H. Lucas is the first Flight III warship in the U.S. Navy, marking a significant evolution in surface force combatant capabilities. The mission of Commander, Naval Surface Force, Pacific Fleet is to man, train, and equip the Surface Force to provide fleet commanders with credible naval power to control the sea and project power ashore. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Sara L. Eshleman)

Aerospace & Defense

A Pentagon Review Panel Examined All 20 Medals of Honor Awarded for Wounded Knee in 1890. In September 2025 the Secretary of Defense Decided Every 1 of Them Stays, and Congress Is Still Trying to Take Them Back.

A question that has remained open for 135 years did not close in a social media video, and both sides know it. The massacre...

Harry J. KazianisSeptember 9, 2026

Aerospace & Defense

Ukraine’s FP-5 Flamingo Cruise Missile Carries a Bigger Warhead Than an American Tomahawk, Flies 3,000 Kilometers Into Russia, and Costs About $600,000 — Roughly 1 Sixth the Price.

The FP-5 Flamingo is nearly 40 feet long, weighs 6 tons, carries a 1,150-kilogram warhead — heavier than a Tomahawk's — and is credited...

Caleb LarsonSeptember 9, 2026

Aerospace & Defense

Russia Is Not Collapsing. It Holds 20 Percent of Ukraine and the Line Has Barely Moved in 4 Years.

The CIA director went to Moscow in August to tell Vladimir Putin his position was hopeless. Fresh US intelligence says Putin thinks the opposite...

Ted Galen CarpenterSeptember 9, 2026

PAC-3 MSE Patriot Missile 19FortyFive Image from Poland

Aerospace & Defense

The US Army Has Contracted to Triple Patriot PAC-3 MSE Production From About 600 to About 2,000 Missiles a Year by 2030. Ukraine Is Currently Pleading for 5 to 10 of Them at a Time.

Lockheed Martin says a new US Army contract will triple PAC-3 MSE production by 2030, from roughly 600 interceptors a year to about 2,000....

Reuben JohnsonSeptember 9, 2026

Smart Bombs: Military, Defense and National Security

Iran Bet on Waiting Out the Midterms. It Misread the Calendar and Donald Trump

Aerospace & Defense

Occupying Iran Would Take 500,000 Troops. The Entire Active US Army Is Smaller

Aerospace & Defense

A 25% Chance: NASA’s Former SR-71 Blackbird Engineer on Whether Tail 844 Flies Again

Aerospace & Defense

100,000-Ton US Navy Nuclear Aircraft Carrier USS Gerald R. Ford Has a ‘Math Problem’ That Can’t Seem to Be Solved

Dr. Andrew A. Michta: Geostrategy

Dr. Andrew A. Michta: Geostrategy

Putin’s Next Target May Be NATO Itself

Dr. Andrew A. Michta: Geostrategy

Why the Witkoff-Kushner Mission Failed: Washington Still Misreads the Stakes in Ukraine

Dr. Andrew A. Michta: Geostrategy

Germany Is Becoming Ukraine’s Most Important Ally in Europe — and Poland Is Paying the Price

Dr. Andrew A. Michta: Geostrategy

NATO’s Answer to the Pentagon’s Europe Review Already Exists: The Eastern Flank Deterrence Initiative

Aerospace & Defense

Aerospace & Defense

The Air Force SR-71 Blackbird Burned Through 8,000 Gallons of Jet Fuel On the Way to Hitting Mach 3 and over 80,000 Feet of Altitude

Aerospace & Defense

On September 13, 1985, an F-15 Fighter Shot Down a Satellite at 345 Miles Up — 42 Years Later, No Aircraft Has Done It Again

Aerospace & Defense

Army Texas Quote of the Day By George Patton: “Give me an army of West Point graduates, and I’ll win a battle; give me an army of Texas Aggies, and I’ll win a war.”

Aerospace & Defense

Mach 3 SR-71 Blackbird’s Ceiling Was Thought to Be 85,000 Feet. In 1965, Test Pilot Flew It Past 90,000, Felt It Wobble, Lost an Engine and Landed on One at Edwards

Trillions

Trillions - 19FortyFive

‘Effectively Closed’: The Strait of Hormuz Oil and Gas Crisis Is Going from Bad to Even Worse

Trillions - 19FortyFive

21 Years Ago, Apple Founder Steve Jobs Advice on Time and ‘Living Someone Else’s Life’ Is the Truth Serum That Still Shapes Our World

Trillions - 19FortyFive

“Money Never Made a Man Happy Yet, Nor Will It. The More a Man Has, the More He Wants.” Benjamin Franklin Was the 8th of 17 Children, Got 2 Years of Schooling Because His Family Could Not Afford More, and His Face Is on the $100 Bill.

Trillions - 19FortyFive

Iran’s Economy Is Buckling. That Is Not the Same as Iran Being Ready to Sign a Deal

The Embassy

The Embassy

The Case for Economic Pressure Over Nuclear Diplomacy With Iran

The Embassy

9/11’s Forgotten Lesson

The Embassy

Russia and NATO’s Gray Zone Actions Could Spark a War No One Wants

The Embassy

Putin’s Giant Gamble: Another Ukraine War Mobilization Is Filled with Unknown Risks and An Angry Russia Simmering

Hermit Kingdom

Hermit Kingdom

Donald Trump Needs to Bring Concessions if He Wants a Deal with North Korea

Hermit Kingdom

What the Iran War Proved About America’s Nuclear Weapons Threat to North Korea

Hermit Kingdom

The North Korea Deal Donald Trump Should Actually Want

Hermit Kingdom

North Korea’s Fingerprints Are All Over Iran’s War Against America

Aerospace & Defense

The US Navy Fixed a Price on Stealth Technology Nobody Had Invented Yet, and the A-12 Avenger II Never Flew. 35 Years Later Boeing Lost $4,900,000,000 in a Single Year on the Same Kind of Contract.

Aerospace & Defense

A Pentagon Review Panel Examined All 20 Medals of Honor Awarded for Wounded Knee in 1890. In September 2025 the Secretary of Defense Decided Every 1 of Them Stays, and Congress Is Still Trying to Take Them Back.

Aerospace & Defense

Ukraine’s FP-5 Flamingo Cruise Missile Carries a Bigger Warhead Than an American Tomahawk, Flies 3,000 Kilometers Into Russia, and Costs About $600,000 — Roughly 1 Sixth the Price.

Aerospace & Defense

Russia Is Not Collapsing. It Holds 20 Percent of Ukraine and the Line Has Barely Moved in 4 Years.

Aerospace & Defense

The US Army Has Contracted to Triple Patriot PAC-3 MSE Production From About 600 to About 2,000 Missiles a Year by 2030. Ukraine Is Currently Pleading for 5 to 10 of Them at a Time.

Trending

Aerospace & Defense

‘She Broke Free’: The CIA Used a Cover Story to Recover a Chunk of a Russian Ballistic Submarine Armed with Nuclear Warheads But Part of the Sub Slid Back Below the Waves

Aerospace & Defense

Boeing Spent $67,000,000 of Its Own Money Building YF-118G Bird of Prey Stealth Aircraft. It Flew 38 Times on Landing Gear From a Beech King Air and an Ejection Seat From a Harrier.

Aerospace & Defense

Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird’s Pratt & Whitney J58 Engines Ran at Full Afterburner for Hours at a Time With Exhaust Temperatures Near 3,400 Degrees. At Mach 3.2 Cruise, Roughly 80 Percent of the Thrust Came From the Inlet, Not the Engine.

Aerospace & Defense

$850,000,000 Australian Submarine ‘Sank’ $5,500,000,000 US Navy Nimitz-Class Aircraft Carrier By Evading US, Japanese, Canadian, Chilean, Korean, and British Forces — 6 Navies — and Photographed the Supercarrier

Aerospace & Defense

A Canadian Oberon-Class Diesel Submarine Built in the 1960s Worth About $80,000,000 Slipped Past an Entire US Navy Carrier Group. The Umpire Declared the $5,500,000,000 Nuclear Aircraft Carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower Sunk.