19FortyFive — Defense, National Security and Military Analysis

U.S. Sailors conduct routine flight deck operations on the flight deck of the world’s largest aircraft carrier, USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78), while underway in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea, March 22, 2026. Gerald R. Ford is on a scheduled deployment in the U.S. 6th Fleet area of operations to support the warfighting effectiveness, lethality and readiness of U.S. Naval Forces Europe Africa, and defend U.S., Allied and partner interests in the region. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Tajh Payne)

Smart Bombs: Military, Defense and National Security

The USS Gerald R. Ford is the most expensive warship ever built, a $13 billion supercarrier and the most advanced on earth — and after being kept at war for eleven months until a fire and 600 failed toilets drove sailors from their bunks, she may now sit broken for up to two years

Summary and Key Points: The USS Gerald R. Ford is the most expensive warship ever built — a $13 billion supercarrier and the most...

Harry J. KazianisJune 2, 2026

Smart Bombs: Military, Defense and National Security

NASA test pilot Neil Armstrong was one of seven men secretly chosen to fly the X-20 Dyna-Soar, a reusable Air Force spaceplane cancelled in 1963 two decades before the Space Shuttle — and the orbital mission it was designed for is now flown by the Space Force’s X-37B and China’s Shenlong

Summary and Key Points on the X-20: Years before the Space Shuttle, the US Air Force had designed a reusable, piloted spaceplane that launched...

Harry J. KazianisMay 31, 2026

Smart Bombs: Military, Defense and National Security

In 2004 a twelve-foot unmanned NASA aircraft hit Mach 9.6 and set an air-breathing speed record that still stands today — then America cancelled the Mach 15 machine meant to come next and spent twenty years watching Russia and China field the hypersonic weapons it walked away from

Summary and Key Points: On November 16, 2004, a twelve-foot unmanned NASA aircraft lit a scramjet with no moving parts and rode it to...

Harry J. KazianisMay 31, 2026

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

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

An SR-71 Blackbird Fell 65,000 Feet in Under Two Minutes Toward the Barents Sea Off Russia in 1984 After Both Engines Quit at 83,000 Feet, and the Crew Relit Them at 18,000 Feet

Aerospace & Defense

US Air Force F-22 Raptors From Alaska Have Deployed to Tsuiki Air Base in Japan for Keen Sword 27, a 45,000-JSDF, 12,000-American Exercise Focused on the Islands Closest to Taiwan

Aerospace & Defense

The Skunk Works F-117 Nighthawk Was Named by a Test Pilot Who Got Tired of Waiting for the Air Force, and It Flew More Than 1,200 Desert Storm Sorties With No Combat Losses

Aerospace & Defense

An F-16 Pilot Who Flew the Block 30 “Big Mouth” Rates It Among the Best Dogfighters in the World, and the Jet He Calls Its Most Serious Close-Range Opponent Is Not the F-35 but the F-22

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

Smart Bombs: Military, Defense and National Security

The USS Gerald R. Ford is the most expensive warship ever built, a $13 billion supercarrier and the most advanced on earth — and after being kept at war for eleven months until a fire and 600 failed toilets drove sailors from their bunks, she may now sit broken for up to two years

Smart Bombs: Military, Defense and National Security

NASA test pilot Neil Armstrong was one of seven men secretly chosen to fly the X-20 Dyna-Soar, a reusable Air Force spaceplane cancelled in 1963 two decades before the Space Shuttle — and the orbital mission it was designed for is now flown by the Space Force’s X-37B and China’s Shenlong

Smart Bombs: Military, Defense and National Security

In 2004 a twelve-foot unmanned NASA aircraft hit Mach 9.6 and set an air-breathing speed record that still stands today — then America cancelled the Mach 15 machine meant to come next and spent twenty years watching Russia and China field the hypersonic weapons it walked away from

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

Trending

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’