19FortyFive — Defense, National Security and Military Analysis

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

Smart Bombs: Military, Defense and National Security

On 30 October 1961 the Soviet Union detonated a single bomb called Tsar Bomba over the Arctic — and its 50-megaton blast was more powerful than every bomb, shell and explosive used by every nation in the entire Second World War, ten times over

Summary and Key Points: The Tsar Bomba is still the largest nuclear device ever detonated: a 50-megaton blast over the Arctic that outstripped every...

Christian D. OrrMay 31, 2026

(August 16, 2006) - USS Jimmy Carter (SSN 23) sits moored in the Magnetic Silencing Facility at Naval Base Kitsap Bangor Aug 16 for her first ìdepermingî treatment. The deperming process reduces a ships electromagnetic signature as she travels through the water. U.S. Navy Photograph by MCCM(AW) Jerry McLain (Released)

Smart Bombs: Military, Defense and National Security

The Quiet War: How The Seawolf-Class Became The Submarine The U.S. Navy Built When Cost Did Not Matter — And Why Its Acoustic Edge Still Holds

One of the greatest joys of my life was back in 2004 when I literally got within 100 feet of USS Connecticut, an actual...

Harry J. KazianisMay 28, 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

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”

Smart Bombs: Military, Defense and National Security

On 30 October 1961 the Soviet Union detonated a single bomb called Tsar Bomba over the Arctic — and its 50-megaton blast was more powerful than every bomb, shell and explosive used by every nation in the entire Second World War, ten times over

Smart Bombs: Military, Defense and National Security

The Quiet War: How The Seawolf-Class Became The Submarine The U.S. Navy Built When Cost Did Not Matter — And Why Its Acoustic Edge Still Holds

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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’