19FortyFive — Defense, National Security and Military Analysis

NAVAL STATION MAYPORT, Fla. (Aug. 31, 2026) - The Freedom-class littoral combat ship USS Cooperstown (LCS 23) as she returns to Naval Station Mayport following a four-month deployment in support of the U.S. Northern Command mission to disrupt illicit drug trafficking and protect the homeland, Aug. 31, 2026. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Keenan Daniels)

Aerospace & Defense

The US Navy’s Littoral Combat Ship Summed Up In Just 2 Words

The US Navy's Littoral Combat Ship were built in large numbers during the War on Terror. The Navy looks like it regrets that decision...

Caleb LarsonSeptember 17, 2026

U.S. Air Force Maj. Josh Gunderson, F-22 Raptor Demonstration Team commander and pilot, flies a practice demo at Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Va., Dec. 6, 2019. Representing Air Combat Command, the F-22 Demo Team travels to air shows all across the world showcase the performance and capabilities of the world's premier 5th-generation fighter. (U.S. Air Force photo by 2nd Lt. Sam Eckholm)

Aerospace & Defense

The F-22 was designed for short fights over Europe and the United States built 183 of them; the J-20 was designed for the Pacific, already numbers about 500, and China is adding roughly 120 a year — more than 800 F-35s are in service, and they still cannot reopen a Raptor line

The Germans had advanced aircraft too. They still lost. Mass production is the part of this comparison that actually matters.

Brandon WeichertSeptember 17, 2026

Block 70 F-16 Fighter Lockheed Martin Photo Handout

Aerospace & Defense

Lockheed Martin, the company behind the F-35 and F-22, lost the Air Force’s sixth-generation jet to Boeing and is now pitching a new F-16 — a fourth-generation fighter the service stopped buying 20 years ago — because it needs 460 more jets by 2035 and cannot stand up new stealth lines fast enough

The F-16G would be a good Viper. The argument is whether America can afford to buy the past in order to have enough aircraft...

Brandon WeichertSeptember 17, 2026

Aerospace & Defense

The Royal Navy’s New Nuclear Dreadnought-Class Missile Submarines Summed Up In 4 Words

The Dreadnought-class: Four boats, one for one against the Vanguards, built by BAE Systems at Barrow-in-Furness. The class carries the most storied name in...

Christian D. OrrSeptember 17, 2026

Queen Elizabeth-Class Aircraft Carrier Royal Navy

Aerospace & Defense

Britain budgeted £3.9 billion for two aircraft carriers, spent about £7.6 billion, then watched HMS Prince of Wales break down days after leaving Portsmouth, wreck a 22-ton propeller, and sit in the yard for nine months — at times the Royal Navy has had neither ship available

Two aircraft carriers were meant to guarantee one always at sea. Breakdowns have left the Royal Navy with stretches of none instead.

Caleb LarsonSeptember 17, 2026

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

Aerospace & Defense

A 25% Chance: NASA’s Former SR-71 Blackbird Engineer on Whether Tail 844 Flies Again

Aerospace & Defense

100,000-Ton US Navy Nuclear Aircraft Carrier USS Gerald R. Ford Has a ‘Math Problem’ That Can’t Seem to Be Solved

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

Getting to Mercury Is Harder Than Getting to the Outer Planets. Earth Is Already Moving 67,000 Miles an Hour Sideways and a Spacecraft Has to Shed Most of That to Fall Inward. Mariner 10 Solved It by Flying 3,600 Miles Over Venus and Letting the Planet Slow It Down.

Aerospace & Defense

British Sailors in Submarines 51 Feet Long Slipped Under the Nets Around the 40,000-Ton Battleship Tirpitz and Left Charges on the Seabed Beneath Her. The Blast Lifted the Ship Out of the Water and Put Her Out of the War for About 6 Months.

Aerospace & Defense

I Am a Retired US Army Special Forces NCO: The SIG Sauer P229 Is 34.4 Ounces Empty. That Is What the Secret Service Carried for 20 Years, and It Is Heavier Than a Fully Loaded Glock 19.

Aerospace & Defense

The US Air Force SR-71 Blackbird $2,300 Tires Were Silver, Nitrogen-Filled, and Inflated to 415 PSI. Powdered Aluminum in the Rubber Fought Mach 3 Heat

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

Aerospace & Defense

The US Navy’s Littoral Combat Ship Summed Up In Just 2 Words

Aerospace & Defense

The F-22 was designed for short fights over Europe and the United States built 183 of them; the J-20 was designed for the Pacific, already numbers about 500, and China is adding roughly 120 a year — more than 800 F-35s are in service, and they still cannot reopen a Raptor line

Aerospace & Defense

Aerospace & Defense

The Royal Navy’s New Nuclear Dreadnought-Class Missile Submarines Summed Up In 4 Words

Aerospace & Defense

Britain budgeted £3.9 billion for two aircraft carriers, spent about £7.6 billion, then watched HMS Prince of Wales break down days after leaving Portsmouth, wreck a 22-ton propeller, and sit in the yard for nine months — at times the Royal Navy has had neither ship available

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

Boeing Spent $67,000,000 of Its Own Money Building YF-118G Bird of Prey Stealth Aircraft. It Flew 38 Times on Landing Gear From a Beech King Air and an Ejection Seat From a Harrier.

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

$850,000,000 Australian Submarine ‘Sank’ $5,500,000,000 US Navy Nimitz-Class Aircraft Carrier By Evading US, Japanese, Canadian, Chilean, Korean, and British Forces — 6 Navies — and Photographed the Supercarrier

Aerospace & Defense

A Canadian Oberon-Class Diesel Submarine Built in the 1960s Worth About $80,000,000 Slipped Past an Entire US Navy Carrier Group. The Umpire Declared the $5,500,000,000 Nuclear Aircraft Carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower Sunk.