19FortyFive — Defense, National Security and Military Analysis

This photo shows a head-on view of NASA's SR-71B, used for pilot proficiency and training, on the ramp at the Air Force's Plant 42 in Palmdale, California, shortly before delivery to the Ames-Dryden Flight Research Facility (later, Dryden Flight Research Center) at Edwards, California. NASA operated two of these unique aircraft, an SR-71A, for high-speed, high altitude research, and this SR- 71B pilot trainer for most of the decade of the 1990s. The "B" model is special because of its raised rear cockpit, which provided a second pilot position so a trainer and an experienced pilot could both see what was going on during flights.

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

The Iowa-class battleships cost a fortune to revive for a few years of service. The Air Force buys new F-15s rather than pull Boneyard...

Robert FarleySeptember 30, 2026

Russian T-90 Tank. Image Credit: Creative Commons.

Aerospace & Defense

Russia Worked Out That Ammunition Stored in the Fighting Compartment Was Blowing Its Tanks Apart, So the T-90M Got a Bustle Magazine With Blowout Panels. It Kept the Carousel Under the Crew Anyway. Oryx Has Now Documented 159 T-90M Losses — More Than Russia Had When the War Began.

The T-90M was the answer to everything the earlier tanks got wrong: a welded turret, Relikt reactive armor, the Kalina fire control suite, and...

Isaac SeitzSeptember 30, 2026

Aerospace & Defense

‘Seals and Gaskets Have Dried Out and Would Crumble’: Why Bringing Back a Mach 3 SR-71 Blackbird Into the Sky Might Takes Years and a Lot of Cash

Reviving the SR-71 Blackbird means finding four J58 engines, replacing rodent-chewed wiring, building two JP-7 tankers and absorbing 300 maintenance hours per hour aloft....

Sean SpoontsSeptember 30, 2026

The aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN 68) steams in the Pacific Ocean, Oct. 5, 2024. Nimitz is underway in 3rd Fleet conducting routine training operations. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Second Class Carson Croom)

Aerospace & Defense

A Conventionally Powered Aircraft Carrier Refuels in a Few Hours. Refueling a Nuclear Nimitz-Class Carrier Takes 3 to 5 Years and Requires Cutting Holes Through the Decks to Reach the Reactors. USS John C. Stennis Is Finishing Hers 14 Months Late.

Newport News does every carrier refueling, and it starts by pumping a million gallons of seawater out of the drydock. Both reactors are shut...

Sean SpoontsSeptember 30, 2026

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 WeichertSeptember 30, 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

A Los Angeles-Class Sub Tied to the Pier Was Louder Than a Seawolf at 20 Knots. 70 Times Quieter, It Dove Past 2,000 Feet to Hunt Typhoons Under Arctic Ice

Aerospace & Defense

Forget the F-35 Debate: Canada’s Old Diesel Victoria-Class Submarines Need to Somehow Limp Along Until 2034

Aerospace & Defense

Forget the F-35 or China’s J-20: Japan Is Turning 98 F-15J Eagles Into ‘Super Interceptors’ Carrying JASSM-ER

Aerospace & Defense

Russia’s New ‘Diesel’ Lada-Class Submarines Summed Up in 4 Words

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

Aerospace & Defense

Russia Worked Out That Ammunition Stored in the Fighting Compartment Was Blowing Its Tanks Apart, So the T-90M Got a Bustle Magazine With Blowout Panels. It Kept the Carousel Under the Crew Anyway. Oryx Has Now Documented 159 T-90M Losses — More Than Russia Had When the War Began.

Aerospace & Defense

‘Seals and Gaskets Have Dried Out and Would Crumble’: Why Bringing Back a Mach 3 SR-71 Blackbird Into the Sky Might Takes Years and a Lot of Cash

Aerospace & Defense

A Conventionally Powered Aircraft Carrier Refuels in a Few Hours. Refueling a Nuclear Nimitz-Class Carrier Takes 3 to 5 Years and Requires Cutting Holes Through the Decks to Reach the Reactors. USS John C. Stennis Is Finishing Hers 14 Months Late.

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

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.