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

China Dominates Global Shipbuilding and the United States Ranks 14th by Tonnage. The Case for an Allied Counterweight.

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

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

A US Navy F/A-18F Super Hornet Came Home on Oct. 1 Wearing a Submarine Kill Marking, Reported as the First Ever on the Type, for a Kilo-Class Sub Bombed Where It Sat in Port

Aerospace & Defense

The Quote Winston Churchill Never Said on Defeat and Victory Just Might Be Simple, Effective and His Best Line Ever

Aerospace & Defense

The Battleship USS Indiana Was Struck During Night Maneuvers in January 1944 by the USS Washington, Whose Bow Tore Through Her Starboard Side and Was Left Embedded in Her Hull

Aerospace & Defense

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Aerospace & Defense

Winston Churchill’s Best Quote Of All Time Is Simple and Effective: ‘I am fond of pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals’