19FortyFive — Defense, National Security and Military Analysis

A U.S. Air Force F-15EX Eagle II assigned to Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, flies a training mission over southeast United States, March 23, 2026. The 96th Test Wing and 53rd Wing perform developmental and operational test series on the platform including next-generation survivability, radars, sensors and networking capabilities. (U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Blake Wiles)

Aerospace & Defense

The F-15EX Eagle II Can Carry 29,500 Pounds of Payload and Up to 12 AMRAAMs. It Just Dropped Live Bombs From an Operational Squadron for the First Time, and the Air Force Wants to Grow the Fleet From 129 Jets to 267.

The Boeing F-15EX Eagle II is coming to the US Air Force and will transform how the air service trains, fights and prepares for...

Georgia GilholySeptember 17, 2026

Collins-Class Submarine Australian Government

Aerospace & Defense

Australia’s Collins-Class Submarine Have No Choice But To Keep Going – No Matter What

Australia set four requirements in 1978: suited to Australasian waters, advanced combat systems, supported by Australian industry, usable in peace and war. It wanted...

Isaac SeitzSeptember 16, 2026

Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71) returns to Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam to participate in the final events of Exercise Rim of the Pacific 2026, July 28, 2026. Thirty nations, 30 ships, five submarines, 15 national land forces, more than 190 aircraft and more than 30,000 personnel are participating in RIMPAC in and around the Hawaiian Islands, June 24 to July 31. The world's largest international maritime exercise, RIMPAC provides a unique training opportunity while fostering and sustaining cooperative relationships among participants critical to ensuring the safety of sea lanes and security on the world's oceans. RIMPAC 2026 is the 30th exercise in the series that began in 1971. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Mark Bergado)

Aerospace & Defense

A French Rubis-Class Nuclear Attack Submarine Built in the 1970’s ‘Sunk’ a 100,000-Ton Nimitz-Class Nuclear Aircraft Carrier

In early 2015, during a Composite Training Unit Exercise off the coast of Florida, the French Navy's Saphir, a Rubis-class nuclear attack submarine commissioned...

Brandon WeichertSeptember 16, 2026

Aerospace & Defense

Israeli Pilots With 24 Air-to-Air Kills Between Them Evaluated the F-14 Tomcat and the F-15 Eagle in 1974 and Reported That the Tomcat Could Barely Outperform an A-4 Skyhawk in a Dogfight. Israel Bought the Eagle. Iran Bought the Tomcat.

France embargoed Israel in 1967 and took its main aircraft supplier away overnight. By 1974 the Israeli Ministry of Defence was asking Washington for...

Isaac SeitzSeptember 16, 2026

Aviation Boatswain’s Mate (Aircraft Handling) 3rd Class Anika Ramos directs the launch of an F-35B Lighting II, attached to Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 242 during flight operations on the flight deck of the America-class amphibious assault ship USS Tripoli (LHA 7) in the South China Sea, Dec. 11, 2025.

Aerospace & Defense

‘This Can’t Be Fixed’: Why the Royal Navy’s Queen Elizabeth-class Aircraft Carriers Can Only Fly F-35B Stealth Fighters

HMS Queen Elizabeth, Britain's largest warship, left Portsmouth on September 5 for three months of operations and training, the first step toward replacing HMS...

Jack BuckbySeptember 16, 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

Army Texas Quote of the Day By George Patton: “Give me an army of West Point graduates, and I’ll win a battle; give me an army of Texas Aggies, and I’ll win a war.”

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

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.

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 F-15EX Eagle II Can Carry 29,500 Pounds of Payload and Up to 12 AMRAAMs. It Just Dropped Live Bombs From an Operational Squadron for the First Time, and the Air Force Wants to Grow the Fleet From 129 Jets to 267.

Aerospace & Defense

Australia’s Collins-Class Submarine Have No Choice But To Keep Going – No Matter What

Aerospace & Defense

A French Rubis-Class Nuclear Attack Submarine Built in the 1970’s ‘Sunk’ a 100,000-Ton Nimitz-Class Nuclear Aircraft Carrier

Aerospace & Defense

Israeli Pilots With 24 Air-to-Air Kills Between Them Evaluated the F-14 Tomcat and the F-15 Eagle in 1974 and Reported That the Tomcat Could Barely Outperform an A-4 Skyhawk in a Dogfight. Israel Bought the Eagle. Iran Bought the Tomcat.

Aerospace & Defense

‘This Can’t Be Fixed’: Why the Royal Navy’s Queen Elizabeth-class Aircraft Carriers Can Only Fly F-35B Stealth Fighters

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.