19FortyFive — Defense, National Security and Military Analysis

Aerospace & Defense

Getting to Mercury Is Harder Than Getting to the Outer Planets. Earth Is Already Moving 67,000 Miles an Hour Sideways and a Spacecraft Has to Shed Most of That to Fall Inward. Mariner 10 Solved It by Flying 3,600 Miles Over Venus and Letting the Planet Slow It Down.

A spacecraft weighing about 1,100 pounds, built for roughly $100 million in 1970s money, made three passes at Mercury in 1974 and 1975 and...

Harrison Kass6 days ago

A recognition drawing of Tirpitz prepared by the US Navy. Image: Public Domain.

Aerospace & Defense

British Sailors in Submarines 51 Feet Long Slipped Under the Nets Around the 40,000-Ton Battleship Tirpitz and Left Charges on the Seabed Beneath Her. The Blast Lifted the Ship Out of the Water and Put Her Out of the War for About 6 Months.

Six X-craft left Scotland on September 11, 1943, towed behind conventional submarines. One was lost with her crew on the way. One was scuttled...

Brandon Weichert6 days ago

SIG Sauer P229. Image Credit: Creative Commons.

Aerospace & Defense

I Am a Retired US Army Special Forces NCO: The SIG Sauer P229 Is 34.4 Ounces Empty. That Is What the Secret Service Carried for 20 Years, and It Is Heavier Than a Fully Loaded Glock 19.

From 1999 to 2019 the Secret Service carried it, in .357 SIG, with a DAK trigger that gave the same pull on every shot....

Steve Balestrieri6 days ago

Aerospace & Defense

The US Air Force SR-71 Blackbird $2,300 Tires Were Silver, Nitrogen-Filled, and Inflated to 415 PSI. Powdered Aluminum in the Rubber Fought Mach 3 Heat

The SR-71 Blackbird's tires were silver because the rubber was laced with powdered aluminum, inflated with nitrogen to 415 psi, cost $2,300 each, and...

Brandon Weichert6 days ago

The Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower conducts rudder turns during sea trials. Dwight D. Eisenhower completed a nine-month planned incremental availability at Norfolk Naval Ship Yard on June 10 and is scheduled to resume underway operations this summer.

Aerospace & Defense

Arresting Gear Failed on US Navy Nuclear Aircraft Carrier USS Eisenhower and a EA-18G Growler Rolled Into the Atlantic. 2 Crew Ejected, 8 Went to Medical, and Flight Ops Stopped Until It’s Fixed

The arresting gear didn't hold. A VAQ-130 Growler rolled off aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower into the Atlantic, both aviators ejected, and the...

Steve Balestrieri6 days ago

The Embassy

Saudi Arabia’s Worst-Case Iran Scenario Hasn’t Even Begun

Hermit Kingdom

The Case for Another Donald Trump-North Korea Summit

Aerospace & Defense

Germany’s Great Military Reboot Is Just Getting Started

Aerospace & Defense

The ‘Black Hole’ Kilo-Class Submarine Isn’t Reality: A US Navy Anti-Submarine Operator Had ‘No Respect’ For the Russian Sub

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’s Boeing F-47 Stealth Fighter Is Not Scheduled to Fly Until 2028. China Is Already Flying 2 Sixth-Generation Jets. The Air Force’s Answer Is to Run 2 Test Phases at the Same Time

Aerospace & Defense

US Air Force Stealth Fighter Down: $334,000,000 Lockheed F-22 Raptor Was ‘Shot Down’ By Navy EA-18G Electronic Warfare Plane in a Combat Drill

Aerospace & Defense

China’s New ‘Flying Wing’ Xi’an H-20 Stealth Bomber Is Now Frozen In a Development ‘Doom Loop’

Aerospace & Defense

George S. Patton’s Most Powerful Quote About Going Into Battle and War Is Simple: ‘All men are afraid in battle. The coward is the one who lets his fear overcome his sense of duty’

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

Getting to Mercury Is Harder Than Getting to the Outer Planets. Earth Is Already Moving 67,000 Miles an Hour Sideways and a Spacecraft Has to Shed Most of That to Fall Inward. Mariner 10 Solved It by Flying 3,600 Miles Over Venus and Letting the Planet Slow It Down.

Aerospace & Defense

British Sailors in Submarines 51 Feet Long Slipped Under the Nets Around the 40,000-Ton Battleship Tirpitz and Left Charges on the Seabed Beneath Her. The Blast Lifted the Ship Out of the Water and Put Her Out of the War for About 6 Months.

Aerospace & Defense

I Am a Retired US Army Special Forces NCO: The SIG Sauer P229 Is 34.4 Ounces Empty. That Is What the Secret Service Carried for 20 Years, and It Is Heavier Than a Fully Loaded Glock 19.

Aerospace & Defense

The US Air Force SR-71 Blackbird $2,300 Tires Were Silver, Nitrogen-Filled, and Inflated to 415 PSI. Powdered Aluminum in the Rubber Fought Mach 3 Heat

Aerospace & Defense

Arresting Gear Failed on US Navy Nuclear Aircraft Carrier USS Eisenhower and a EA-18G Growler Rolled Into the Atlantic. 2 Crew Ejected, 8 Went to Medical, and Flight Ops Stopped Until It’s Fixed

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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

82 Years Later, General George Patton’s Best US Army Line Is Still the Greatest Military Quote in Armed Forces History

Aerospace & Defense

The US 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

Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird Came Back From Every Mission 3 to 4 Inches Longer Than It Took Off. At Mach 3.2 the Titanium Skin Ran Around 620 Degrees Fahrenheit, So Lockheed Built the Panels Loose on Purpose and the Fuel Tanks Leaked on the Ramp Until Heat Swelled the Joints Shut.

Aerospace & Defense

23 Years Later, General James ‘Mad Dog’ Mattis and His Line on the Marines Is Still One of the Greatest Military Quotes in Armed Forces History