19FortyFive — Defense, National Security and Military Analysis

Smart Bombs: Military, Defense and National Security

The XB-70 Valkyrie was a Mach 3 nuclear bomber built to fly so high and fast that nothing the Soviet Union launched could ever reach it — and one of the only two ever built was destroyed not in combat but in a midair collision during a publicity photo shoot for an engine company

Summary and Key Points: The North American XB-70 Valkyrie was built to cruise at three times the speed of sound — so high and...

Harry J. KazianisMay 31, 2026

Smart Bombs: Military, Defense and National Security

Over a service life from 1966 to 1998 more than 4,000 missiles were fired at the SR-71 Blackbird and not one ever hit it — because the unarmed spy plane’s entire defense against a surface-to-air missile was a single instruction to the pilot: go faster

Summary and Key Points: The SR-71 Blackbird flew the Cold War’s most dangerous reconnaissance missions — over the Soviet periphery, North Vietnam and North...

Harry J. KazianisMay 31, 2026

Smart Bombs: Military, Defense and National Security

A Chinese defense firm claims its AI tracked four US B-2 stealth bombers over Iran by their radio signals and reconstructed the flight path of an aircraft built to be all but invisible — but it has produced no recordings, no transcripts, no proof

Summary and Key Points: A Hangzhou defense firm, Jingan Technology, says its “Jingqi” AI system intercepted radio signals from four B-2 Spirit bombers —...

Christian D. OrrMay 31, 2026

Smart Bombs: Military, Defense and National Security

In 2017 Russian Navy divers pulled an American-built P-39 Airacobra out of an Arctic lake 72 years after it crashed on a 1945 training flight — and where they expected to find the pilot’s remains, all that was left was part of his fur-lined boot

Summary and Key Points: More than 70 years after it sank, an American-built P-39 Airacobra was raised from an Arctic lake near Murmansk —...

Stephen SilverMay 31, 2026

U.S. Marines with 2nd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, currently forward deployed with 4th Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division as part of the Unit Deployment Program, engage a simulated enemy while rehearsing squad attacks during the Korean Marine Exchange Program 26.1 on Suseong-Ri, Pohang, South Korea, April 2, 2026. The Korean Marine Exchange Program (KMEP) is a semi-annual exercise that provides opportunities for ROK Marine Corps and U.S. Marine Corps units to train together, improving their combined capabilities to deter threats and maintain peace on the Korean Peninsula. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Joaquin Dela Torre)

Smart Bombs: Military, Defense and National Security

The U.S. Marine Corps assigns every Marine to one of four color-coded stress zones — green, yellow, orange or red — and the system exists to catch what it calls a “mental injury”

The U.S. Marine Corps fosters an environment that provides physical fitness training, elite morale, unit cohesion, valuable friendship and camaraderie, and a high level...

Brent M. EastwoodMay 31, 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 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

Aerospace & Defense

The Mach 3 US Air Force SR-71 Blackbird at the Smithsonian Still Leaks JP-7 Fuel on the Museum Floor

Aerospace & Defense

The Royal Navy Dropped Catapults on Queen Elizabeth-class Aircraft Carriers and Paid Billions to Fly the F-35B Stealth Fighter

Aerospace & Defense

The Mach 3 Air Force SR-71 Blackbird Ran on a Fuel So Stable You Could Put Out a Match in It. Then They Had to Invent a Way to Light It.

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

Smart Bombs: Military, Defense and National Security

The XB-70 Valkyrie was a Mach 3 nuclear bomber built to fly so high and fast that nothing the Soviet Union launched could ever reach it — and one of the only two ever built was destroyed not in combat but in a midair collision during a publicity photo shoot for an engine company

Smart Bombs: Military, Defense and National Security

Over a service life from 1966 to 1998 more than 4,000 missiles were fired at the SR-71 Blackbird and not one ever hit it — because the unarmed spy plane’s entire defense against a surface-to-air missile was a single instruction to the pilot: go faster

Smart Bombs: Military, Defense and National Security

A Chinese defense firm claims its AI tracked four US B-2 stealth bombers over Iran by their radio signals and reconstructed the flight path of an aircraft built to be all but invisible — but it has produced no recordings, no transcripts, no proof

Smart Bombs: Military, Defense and National Security

In 2017 Russian Navy divers pulled an American-built P-39 Airacobra out of an Arctic lake 72 years after it crashed on a 1945 training flight — and where they expected to find the pilot’s remains, all that was left was part of his fur-lined boot

Smart Bombs: Military, Defense and National Security

The U.S. Marine Corps assigns every Marine to one of four color-coded stress zones — green, yellow, orange or red — and the system exists to catch what it calls a “mental injury”

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.