19FortyFive — Defense, National Security and Military Analysis

Aerospace & Defense

Sweden’s Saab JAS-39 Gripen E Costs About $4,700 to $9,900 per Flight Hour Against $38,000 to $42,000 for an F-35A and Up to $68,000 for an F-22 Raptor. It Has No Stealth Airframe, and a Handful of Conscripts With 1 Technician Can Rearm It on a Public Road in Under 20 Minutes.

Saab's JAS 39 Gripen answer to low observability is not shape. It is the Arexis suite — spherical electronic warfare coverage built on gallium...

Steve BalestrieriSeptember 12, 2026

Venera 13 Venus Probe Creative Commons Photo

Aerospace & Defense

The Soviet Union Soft-Landed 8 Venera Spacecraft on the Surface of Venus Between 1970 and 1982, in 870 Degrees Fahrenheit and 92 Times Earth’s Atmospheric Pressure. The United States Has Never Landed on Venus Once.

Ninety-two bars is roughly what you feel 3,000 feet underwater. Soviet engineers answered it by building what were effectively robotic deep-sea vessels aimed at...

Harrison KassSeptember 12, 2026

Aerospace & Defense

The Eurofighter Typhoon First Flew in 1994 and Can Never Be Made Into the F-22 or F-35. In January 2026 the UK Signed a £453,500,000 Contract for 40 ECRS Mk2 Radars — About £11,300,000 Each — That Track Targets and Jam Enemy Sensors at the Same Time Across a 200-Degree Field of Regard.

The ECRS Mk2 folds radar, electronic warfare and jamming into one gallium-nitride array, which hands the Typhoon a Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses role...

Steve BalestrieriSeptember 11, 2026

Apache AH-64 Helicopter Creative Commons Photo

Aerospace & Defense

The AH-64 Apache Helicopter Entered U.S. Army Service in the Mid-1980s, Purpose-Built to Destroy Soviet Tanks Pushing Through Central Europe. The Army Now Plans to Fly It Into the 2060s — Close to 80 Years of Service, About 70 of Them After the Soviet Union Stopped Existing.

The AN/APG-78 Longbow radar sits above the rotor mast, so an AH-64 Apache can stay hidden behind terrain with only the radar exposed. It...

Harrison KassSeptember 11, 2026

Aerospace & Defense

Russia’s PAK-DA Strategic Bomber: Massive 35-Ton Payload, a 12,000 km Range, and Stealth Like the US Air Force B-2 Spirit But It Looks Frozen In Time

Russian defense officials have described a subsonic PAK-DA flying wing resembling the B-2 Spirit, carrying a 35-tonne payload in internal bays, with a crew...

Isaac SeitzSeptember 11, 2026

Aerospace & Defense

China Dominates Global Shipbuilding and the United States Ranks 14th by Tonnage. The Case for an Allied Counterweight.

The Embassy

Pausing the Ukraine War Could Help Ukraine

Aerospace & Defense

The U.S. Navy May Be Preparing for a War Its Adversary Has No Intention of Fighting

Aerospace & Defense

Now Is the Time to Save the US Navy’s Battleships

Dr. Andrew A. Michta: Geostrategy

Dr. Andrew A. Michta: Geostrategy

The Russia Diesel Deal Is a Strategic Mistake

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

Aerospace & Defense

Aerospace & Defense

The Air Force Research Laboratory Launched a Capsule of Military Cargo Pods on a SpaceX Rocket on October 20 to Measure Whether Supplies Survive Launch, Space and Reentry

Aerospace & Defense

A Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird Broke Apart at Mach 3.18 and 78,800 Feet in 1966. The Pilot Blacked Out, Woke Up Falling Through the Sky, and Lived Without Ever Ejecting

Aerospace & Defense

The US Military Is Increasing Combat Pay As the War with Iran Continues But There’s a Catch

Aerospace & Defense

Many Decades Later, General George Patton’s Best Army Line on Attacking Is Still One of the Greatest Military Quotes in Armed Forces History

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

Ukraine Promised to Do the Fighting If the West Paid for It. That Bargain Is Now in Question

The Embassy

Let Trump Be Trump on the Ukraine War

The Embassy

America First Foreign Policy Is A Strategy for America Alone

The Embassy

How the Ukraine War Ends: A Partial Ceasefire That Settles Into Another Frozen Conflict

Hermit Kingdom

Hermit Kingdom

The Case for Another Donald Trump-North Korea Summit

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

Aerospace & Defense

Sweden’s Saab JAS-39 Gripen E Costs About $4,700 to $9,900 per Flight Hour Against $38,000 to $42,000 for an F-35A and Up to $68,000 for an F-22 Raptor. It Has No Stealth Airframe, and a Handful of Conscripts With 1 Technician Can Rearm It on a Public Road in Under 20 Minutes.

Aerospace & Defense

The Soviet Union Soft-Landed 8 Venera Spacecraft on the Surface of Venus Between 1970 and 1982, in 870 Degrees Fahrenheit and 92 Times Earth’s Atmospheric Pressure. The United States Has Never Landed on Venus Once.

Aerospace & Defense

The Eurofighter Typhoon First Flew in 1994 and Can Never Be Made Into the F-22 or F-35. In January 2026 the UK Signed a £453,500,000 Contract for 40 ECRS Mk2 Radars — About £11,300,000 Each — That Track Targets and Jam Enemy Sensors at the Same Time Across a 200-Degree Field of Regard.

Aerospace & Defense

The AH-64 Apache Helicopter Entered U.S. Army Service in the Mid-1980s, Purpose-Built to Destroy Soviet Tanks Pushing Through Central Europe. The Army Now Plans to Fly It Into the 2060s — Close to 80 Years of Service, About 70 of Them After the Soviet Union Stopped Existing.

Aerospace & Defense

Russia’s PAK-DA Strategic Bomber: Massive 35-Ton Payload, a 12,000 km Range, and Stealth Like the US Air Force B-2 Spirit But It Looks Frozen In Time

Trending

Aerospace & Defense

Forget the Iowa-Class: The 72,000-Ton Montana-Class Battleship Was the US Navy’s Great Mistake

Aerospace & Defense

The Hardest Part of Bringing Back the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird to Mach 3 in 2026: ‘You’re talking about engines that have been sitting for 30-plus years.’

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

Aerospace & Defense

The US Navy’s Iowa-Class Battleships Cost a Fortune for a Few Years at Sea. NASA’s SR-71 Blackbird Is Next

Aerospace & Defense

Winston Churchill’s Best Quote Of All Time Is Simple and Effective: ‘I am fond of pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals’