19FortyFive — Defense, National Security and Military Analysis

Aerospace & Defense

I Was a US Navy Anti-Submarine Warfare Operator: The Soviet Alfa-Class Was the Fastest and Deepest-Diving Submarine Ever Built — 40-Plus Knots and a 900-Meter Design Depth. X-Rays Found Cracks in the Titanium, So They Capped It at 400. The Reactor Was So Loud They Could Not Use the Speed Either.

Project 705 was built from a titanium alloy that cannot be welded in open air, so the Soviets constructed a sealed hall filled with...

Sean SpoontsSeptember 30, 2026

Aerospace & Defense

I Am a Retired US Army Special Forces NCO: The M2 Browning .50 Caliber Was Adopted in 1933 and Will Turn 100 Years Old in Service in 2033. About 3,000,000 Have Been Built.

Ma Deuce: The M2 Browning .50 Caliber That Refuses to Retire – Some weapons are built for a war. The M2 Browning was built...

Steve BalestrieriSeptember 30, 2026

260516-N-FY193-1763 NORFOLK, Va. (May 16, 2026) USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78) returned to Naval Station Norfolk, May 16, 2026, following a historic 11-month deployment to U.S. 2nd, 4th, 5th, and 6th Fleets as part of the Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group. Before returning to Norfolk after 326 days, the Gerald R. Ford crew conducted 23 replenishments-at-sea and sailed over 57,713 nautical miles. Embarked Carrier Air Wing 8 logged more than 5,760 flight hours and 12,200 flight launches. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Mike Shen)

Aerospace & Defense

$4,000,000 to Flush a Toilet on USS Gerald R. Ford? The Answer Is Yes for this Nuclear Aircraft Carrier

The VCHT replaced gravity plumbing the Navy had used since the age of sail — narrower pipes, less fresh water, bends where straight drops...

Sean SpoontsSeptember 29, 2026

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 WeichertSeptember 29, 2026

Aerospace & Defense

‘USS Never-Docks’: Why It Feels Like US Navy Nuclear Aircraft Carriers Never Come Home and The Toll They Take on Sailors and Their Families

With 11 carrier strike groups covering the commitments 15 once did, nine- and 11-month deployments are becoming routine. Crews get 12-hour shifts, deferred maintenance...

Sean SpoontsSeptember 29, 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

I Was a US Navy Anti-Submarine Warfare Operator: The Soviet Alfa-Class Was the Fastest and Deepest-Diving Submarine Ever Built — 40-Plus Knots and a 900-Meter Design Depth. X-Rays Found Cracks in the Titanium, So They Capped It at 400. The Reactor Was So Loud They Could Not Use the Speed Either.

Aerospace & Defense

I Am a Retired US Army Special Forces NCO: The M2 Browning .50 Caliber Was Adopted in 1933 and Will Turn 100 Years Old in Service in 2033. About 3,000,000 Have Been Built.

Aerospace & Defense

$4,000,000 to Flush a Toilet on USS Gerald R. Ford? The Answer Is Yes for this Nuclear Aircraft Carrier

Aerospace & Defense

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

Aerospace & Defense

‘USS Never-Docks’: Why It Feels Like US Navy Nuclear Aircraft Carriers Never Come Home and The Toll They Take on Sailors and Their Families

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.