19FortyFive — Defense, National Security and Military Analysis

Space and Technology

In January 2005 a European probe named Huygens fell for two and a half hours through the orange haze of Titan and landed on a plain of ice — the most distant touchdown in history, and no spacecraft has ever gone back.

Most probes orbit worlds or fly past them. In January 2005, Europe's Huygens did something far rarer: it landed. Carried across the solar system...

Harrison KassJuly 7, 2026

SSBN China Submarine. Image Credit: Creative Commons.

Aerospace & Defense

‘You Could Hear Them From Pearl Harbor’: China’s Once-Noisy Submarines Just Silenced Decades of Mockery

At noon Beijing time, a missile rose out of the Pacific carrying a dummy warhead, and Beijing declined to say what it was. Western...

Brandon WeichertJuly 7, 2026

A U.S. Air Force B-1B Lancer assigned to the 7th Bomb Wing takes off.

Aerospace & Defense

‘Simply Wrong’: The B-1B Lancer Is Always Called a Nuclear Bomber — the U.S. Air Force Welded That Capability Away Years Ago

Ask almost anyone and they'll tell you the B-1B went conventional in the 1990s. The real ending involved welding torches, severed wiring, a treaty...

Harry J. KazianisJuly 7, 2026

Aerospace & Defense

The U.S. Air Force Is Retiring the B-52’s Replacements First. The 1950s Bomber Will Outlive Both of Them

The Pentagon is retiring two bombers decades younger than the B-52 while rebuilding the old giant to fly for another generation. Behind that inversion...

Harry J. KazianisJuly 7, 2026

Chengdu J-10 Fighter Jet. Image Credit: Creative Commons.

Aerospace & Defense

China Built the J-10 as Its Own Fighter — Then Flew It on Russian Engines for Twenty Years Before Its Homegrown Engine Was Ready

Sixteen years of failure produced an interceptor that never left the ground. What its designer salvaged from that wreck became the backbone of China's...

Harry J. KazianisJuly 7, 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

The US Air Force Wants 100 Northrop Grumman B-21 Raiders at $700 Million Each. It Probably Needs 300 Stealth Bombers

Aerospace & Defense

‘Saturation Strike’: F-16 Fighters Used Swarm Tactics to ‘Destroy’ A US Air Force F-35 Stealth In a Dogfighting Drill

Aerospace & Defense

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

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.

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

Space and Technology

In January 2005 a European probe named Huygens fell for two and a half hours through the orange haze of Titan and landed on a plain of ice — the most distant touchdown in history, and no spacecraft has ever gone back.

Aerospace & Defense

‘You Could Hear Them From Pearl Harbor’: China’s Once-Noisy Submarines Just Silenced Decades of Mockery

Aerospace & Defense

‘Simply Wrong’: The B-1B Lancer Is Always Called a Nuclear Bomber — the U.S. Air Force Welded That Capability Away Years Ago

Aerospace & Defense

The U.S. Air Force Is Retiring the B-52’s Replacements First. The 1950s Bomber Will Outlive Both of Them

Aerospace & Defense

China Built the J-10 as Its Own Fighter — Then Flew It on Russian Engines for Twenty Years Before Its Homegrown Engine Was Ready

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

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.