19FortyFive — Defense, National Security and Military Analysis

Aerospace & Defense

Canada Scored the Lockheed Martin F-35A at 57.1 Out of 60 Points for Military Capability in Its 2021 Fighter Competition. The Saab Gripen E Scored 19.8. On Mission Performance It Was 97 Percent Against 22 Percent, and Ottawa Is Still Considering Buying Both.

The F-35 price has moved. Canada's Auditor General put the fighter project at C$19 billion in 2022 and C$27.7 billion by 2024, and that...

Georgia GilholySeptember 15, 2026

South Korea Nuclear Submarine Government Handout Photo

Aerospace & Defense

South Korea Has Put $74,400,000 Into an 8,000-Ton Nuclear Submarine Due in the Mid-2030s. It Has Never Operated a Naval Reactor.

A reactor is louder than a battery. Coolant pumps and turbines make noise that a diesel-electric boat running submerged simply does not make, and...

Brandon WeichertSeptember 15, 2026

YF-118G Bird of Prey by Boeing Creative Commons Photo

Aerospace & Defense

Boeing Built One YF-118FG ‘Bird of Prey’ for $67,000,000 and Flew It 38 Times at 300 Miles per Hour. It Never Carried a Weapon or a Radar.

The YF-118G design choices are what made it matter. The engine sat in a shielded position so that radar looking head-on never saw the...

Brandon WeichertSeptember 15, 2026

Test pilots with the 461st Flight Test Squadron, 412th Test Wing, return to Edwards Air Force Base, California, on January 21 after conducting a TR-3 AIM-120 live fire mission over the Pacific Test Range. The F-35 Integrated Test Force at Edwards is responsible for developmental testing of all three F-35 aircraft variants across the joint-services. (Courtesy Photo)

Aerospace & Defense

The Former Canadian CF-18 Pilot Who Said in 2011 That the F-35 Was “Not the Right Plane for Canada” Is Now the Minister Deciding How Many Canada Buys. Stephen Fuhr Has Committed to 16 of the 88 Jets Ottawa Announced.

Fuhr also runs the Defence Investment Agency, created by Prime Minister Mark Carney last October to cut through a procurement system known for cumbersome...

Georgia GilholySeptember 14, 2026

Aerospace & Defense

The US Army Has a $17,040,000,000 Abrams Upgrade Program. Now It Says the 73-Ton Tank Can’t Take Another Upgrade and Is Building a New One.

The U.S. Army does not need a new main battle tank. It has the M1A2 Abrams, and the war in Ukraine has shown that...

Brandon WeichertSeptember 14, 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

The Royal Navy Spent 8 Years Repairing Destroyer HMS Daring. When the Work Was Complete She Still Could Not Sail, Because the Navy Didn’t Have Trained Sailors

Aerospace & Defense

83 Years Ago, Winston Churchill’s Line About War Is Still the One of the Greatest Military Quotes in Armed Forces History

Aerospace & Defense

Decades Later, Army General Dwight D Eisenhower’s Line on Sergeants in the Army Is Still One of the Greatest Military Quotes in Armed Forces History

Aerospace & Defense

The Navy Canceled the New Constellation-Class Frigate After It Added 500 Tons to Its Own Design Plan

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

Canada Scored the Lockheed Martin F-35A at 57.1 Out of 60 Points for Military Capability in Its 2021 Fighter Competition. The Saab Gripen E Scored 19.8. On Mission Performance It Was 97 Percent Against 22 Percent, and Ottawa Is Still Considering Buying Both.

Aerospace & Defense

South Korea Has Put $74,400,000 Into an 8,000-Ton Nuclear Submarine Due in the Mid-2030s. It Has Never Operated a Naval Reactor.

Aerospace & Defense

Boeing Built One YF-118FG ‘Bird of Prey’ for $67,000,000 and Flew It 38 Times at 300 Miles per Hour. It Never Carried a Weapon or a Radar.

Aerospace & Defense

The Former Canadian CF-18 Pilot Who Said in 2011 That the F-35 Was “Not the Right Plane for Canada” Is Now the Minister Deciding How Many Canada Buys. Stephen Fuhr Has Committed to 16 of the 88 Jets Ottawa Announced.

Aerospace & Defense

The US Army Has a $17,040,000,000 Abrams Upgrade Program. Now It Says the 73-Ton Tank Can’t Take Another Upgrade and Is Building a New One.

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.