19FortyFive — Defense, National Security and Military Analysis

Aerospace & Defense

Russia unveiled the T-14 tank, the Su-57 stealth fighter, and the Su-75 Checkmate as world-beating weapons — a decade on, the count stands at a few dozen tanks, roughly 30 jets, and a Checkmate that has never flown, while it turns out cheap drones by the tens of thousands

The T-14 Armata, Su-57, and Su-75 Checkmate were unveiled as Russia's next-generation arsenal — a decade later the tank exists in dozens, the fighter...

Harry J. KazianisJuly 17, 2026

Cold War Nuclear Weapons Test. Image Credit: Creative Commons.

Aerospace & Defense

81 years ago today, a 21-kiloton test in the New Mexico desert gave humanity the power to destroy itself — and in the eight decades since, no two nuclear-armed powers have ever fought a full-scale conventional war against each other

On July 16, 1945, in a stretch of New Mexico desert called the Jornada del Muerto, scientists of the Manhattan Project detonated a plutonium...

Harrison KassJuly 16, 2026

Space and Technology

NASA’s first asteroid sample-return mission grabbed so much of Bennu that debris jammed the collector’s lid and the sample began leaking into space — engineers rushed to stow it early, and the capsule still landed in Utah in 2023 carrying 121.6 grams of 4.5-billion-year-old rock

OSIRIS-REx flew hundreds of millions of miles to do something NASA had never done: bring a piece of an asteroid home. The target was...

Harrison KassJuly 16, 2026

NASA Saturn V Rocket Exhibit at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Image by Harry J. Kazianis.

Space and Technology

57 years ago today, three astronauts lifted off atop a Saturn V aimed so precisely at the Moon that the trip needed just two course corrections — and the route home was a “free return,” designed to carry them back without the engines ever firing

Fifty-seven years ago today, on July 16, 1969, three astronauts sat atop a Saturn V and lifted off on the most dangerous flight ever...

Brent M. EastwoodJuly 16, 2026

Kirov-Class Nuclear Russian Cruiser Creative Commons Photo

Aerospace & Defense

28,000 Ton Mistake: Russia’s Admiral Nakhimov Nuclear Battlecrusier Took Almost 30 Years to Refit Could Get ‘Schooled’ by Cheap Drones and Missiles

The Soviet Union built the Kirov-class to sink American carriers with sheer missile weight. Russia has one hull left, and after a decade of...

Brandon WeichertJuly 16, 2026

Aerospace & Defense

Germany’s Great Military Reboot Is Just Getting Started

Aerospace & Defense

There Is No Such Thing as a ‘Black Hole’ Kilo-Class Submarine: A US Navy Anti-Submarine Operator Had ‘No Respect’ For the Russian Sub

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

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

On October 3, 1967 Pete Knight Flew the X-15A2 at 4,520 Miles an Hour — Mach 6.7. Nearly 60 Years Later That Is Still the Fastest Any Winged Aircraft Has Ever Flown With a Human Being Inside.

Aerospace & Defense

A 2,450-Ton Dutch Diesel Submarine ‘Sank’ a US Navy Nuclear Aircraft Carrier in 1999. On Battery Power, It Slipped Through the Escort Screen and Fired From 4,000 Yards.

Aerospace & Defense

The Navy Wasted $1,840,000,000 Modernizing 4 Ticonderoga-class Missile Cruisers, Hue City, Anzio, Cowpens, and Vicksburg. None of Them Ever Deployed Again.

Aerospace & Defense

The US Navy Is Spending $622,800,000 on a 10,000-Ton Nuclear Attack Submarine It Can’t Build Until the 2040s. The 10,000-Ton SSN(X) Is Waiting Behind Virginias and Columbias at Two Full Yards

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

Russia unveiled the T-14 tank, the Su-57 stealth fighter, and the Su-75 Checkmate as world-beating weapons — a decade on, the count stands at a few dozen tanks, roughly 30 jets, and a Checkmate that has never flown, while it turns out cheap drones by the tens of thousands

Aerospace & Defense

81 years ago today, a 21-kiloton test in the New Mexico desert gave humanity the power to destroy itself — and in the eight decades since, no two nuclear-armed powers have ever fought a full-scale conventional war against each other

Space and Technology

NASA’s first asteroid sample-return mission grabbed so much of Bennu that debris jammed the collector’s lid and the sample began leaking into space — engineers rushed to stow it early, and the capsule still landed in Utah in 2023 carrying 121.6 grams of 4.5-billion-year-old rock

Space and Technology

57 years ago today, three astronauts lifted off atop a Saturn V aimed so precisely at the Moon that the trip needed just two course corrections — and the route home was a “free return,” designed to carry them back without the engines ever firing

Aerospace & Defense

28,000 Ton Mistake: Russia’s Admiral Nakhimov Nuclear Battlecrusier Took Almost 30 Years to Refit Could Get ‘Schooled’ by Cheap Drones and Missiles

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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

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

81 Years Ago, Army General George Patton’s Advice on History Is Still One of the Greatest Military Quotes in Armed Forces History

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

Canada Finalized an Agreement to Buy 88 Lockheed Martin F-35A Fighter Jets Back in January 2023. Almost 18 Months Into a Review Ordered by Prime Minister Mark Carney, Ottawa Is Committed to Only 16 of Them — and the First Ones Still Arrive This Year.