19FortyFive — Defense, National Security and Military Analysis

SR-71 Blackbird Above the Earth Creative Commons Artist Image

Aerospace & Defense

Air Force 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.

The SR-71 Blackbird’s shape gets the credit, but its two Pratt & Whitney J58 engines did the work: a compressor bleed-bypass that turned a...

Steve BalestrieriOctober 9, 2026

US Navy Aircraft Carrier At Sunset Creative Commons Photo

Aerospace & Defense

A Canadian Oberon-Class Diesel Submarine Built in the 1960s Worth About $80,000,000 Slipped Past an Entire Navy Carrier Group. The Umpire Declared the $5,500,000,000 Nuclear Aircraft Carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower Sunk.

During NATO’s Ocean Venture exercise in 1981, a 1960s-vintage Canadian Oberon-class diesel submarine running silent on battery power slipped past the destroyers, submarines and...

Isaac SeitzOctober 9, 2026

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.

A B-52 carried him to 45,000 feet and let go. Sixty seconds of rocket burn emptied 15,400 pounds from the drop tanks, Knight jettisoned...

Sean SpoontsOctober 9, 2026

ATLANTIC OCEAN (Oct. 5, 2025) The Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77) transits the Atlantic Ocean while an F/A-18E Super Hornet, attached to the “Pukin Dogs” of Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 143 fire rounds into ocean in support of the Titans of the Sea Presidential Review. The Titans of the Sea Presidential Review is one of many events taking place throughout the country to showcase maritime capabilities as part of the U.S Navy’s 250th birthday. America is a maritime nation. For 250 years, America’s Warfighting Navy has sailed the globe in defense of freedom. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Mitchell Mason)

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.

Running silent on batteries and hiding in the ocean’s thermal layers, a 2,450-ton Dutch Walrus-class submarine slipped through a US Navy escort screen in...

Isaac SeitzOctober 9, 2026

TAIWAN STRAIT (Aug. 28, 2022) Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Antietam (CG 54) transits the East China Sea during routine underway operations. Chancellorsville is forward-deployed to the U.S. 7th Fleet area of operations in support of a free and open Indo-Pacific. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Justin Stack)

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.

The Navy is retiring its biggest Tomahawk magazines: four Ohio-class SSGNs at 154 missiles each and Ticonderoga cruisers with 122 cells, replaced by Burkes...

Jack BuckbyOctober 9, 2026

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

The Embassy

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

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 US Navy Once Had 51 Perry-Class Frigates. Today It Has 0, Its Replacement Program Was Cut From 20 Ships to 2, and the Next Frigate May Be a Coast Guard Cutter

Aerospace & Defense

The F-35’s AIM-120D Missile Reaches About 100 Miles and China’s PL-15 Up to 186. The AIM-260 Now in Testing Is Built to Fit the F-35’s Weapons Bay at 120-Plus Miles and Nearly Mach 5

Aerospace & Defense

The Air Force Built 187 F-22 Raptors of 381 Planned Before Bob Gates Killed the Line in 2009. Restarting It Would Cost $9.9 Billion Before the First New Jet, a 2016 Study Found

Aerospace & Defense

The Age of the Aircraft Carrier Is Coming to an End and the US Navy Isn’t Ready (China and Iran Already Know This)

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

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

The Embassy

Putin Cannot Afford to End the Ukraine War

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

Air Force 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

A Canadian Oberon-Class Diesel Submarine Built in the 1960s Worth About $80,000,000 Slipped Past an Entire Navy Carrier Group. The Umpire Declared the $5,500,000,000 Nuclear Aircraft Carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower Sunk.

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.

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

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