19FortyFive — Defense, National Security and Military Analysis

Aerospace & Defense

A 100,000-ton US Navy nuclear aircraft carrier hit a tanker and lost F/A-18s to friendly fire, a tow tractor and a snapped arresting cable, investigators found undermanned watches, skipped maintenance and a ‘just get it done’ culture, and the fleet behind her is 18,000 sailors short

A Senate letter put the bill for military mishaps from 2020 to 2024 at $9.4 billion, 90 lives and 89 aircraft, with Marine Corps...

Sean Spoonts3 days ago

USS Iowa (BB-61) Fires a full broadside of nine 16/50 and six 5/38 guns during a target exercise near Vieques Island, Puerto Rico, 1 July 1984. Photographed by PHAN J. Alan Elliott. Note concussion effects on the water surface, and 16-inch gun barrels in varying degrees of recoil. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the the Department of Defense Still Media Collection.

Aerospace & Defense

Four US Navy battleships mothballed for decades came back in 1982 for $1.7 billion to answer a Soviet nuclear battlecruiser, one plan cut off an aft 16-inch turret for a Harrier flight deck, the Navy bolted on 32 Tomahawks and 16 Harpoons instead, and all four were gone by 1992

Reactivating USS New Jersey alone was estimated at $247 million in 1982, about $857 million today. The battleships got AN/SPS-49 radars, SLQ-32 electronic warfare...

Isaac Seitz3 days ago

Aerospace & Defense

Lockheed Drew Up an SR-71 Blackbird Firing 210-Kiloton Nuclear Missiles From 80,000 Feet at Mach 3.2, Range 500 Nautical Miles, and Half Would Have Missed

Ben Rich's paper reshaped the Blackbird's forward fuselage with blunter chines, a rounded underside and a longer nose for radar to fit the 14-foot...

Brandon Weichert4 days ago

A-12 Oxcart. Image Credit: Creative Commons.

Aerospace & Defense

The SR-71 Blackbird’s Ancestor Was Redrawn in 1961 to Carry 4 Nuclear Bombs at Mach 3.2 and 90,000 Feet, Then the Air Force Chose the 6-Engine XB-70 Valkyrie

Gen. Curtis LeMay and SAC commander Gen. Thomas Power both took interest in the RB-12 in 1961, but the XB-70's backers inside the Air...

Brandon Weichert4 days ago

(July 29, 2025) The Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Princeton (CG 59) fires its forward Mark 45 5-inch gun during a weapons maintenance shoot, July 29, 2025. The Carl Vinson Carrier Strike Group is underway conducting routine operations in the U.S. 3rd Fleet area of operations. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Jacob I. Allison)

Aerospace & Defense

A 122-missile cruiser had $161.15 million set aside for a four-year overhaul and was decommissioned before a worker touched her, one of four the Navy retired mid-upgrade after putting $1.84 billion into them, and the three it finished leave the fleet in 2029

USS Hue City had $161.15 million allocated for her upgrade and was decommissioned before work began. A 2024 GAO report counted 9,000 contract changes...

Isaac Seitz4 days ago

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

A Los Angeles-Class Sub Tied to the Pier Was Louder Than a Seawolf at 20 Knots. 70 Times Quieter, It Dove Past 2,000 Feet to Hunt Typhoons Under Arctic Ice

Aerospace & Defense

Forget the F-35 Debate: Canada’s Old Diesel Victoria-Class Submarines Need to Somehow Limp Along Until 2034

Aerospace & Defense

Forget the F-35 or China’s J-20: Japan Is Turning 98 F-15J Eagles Into ‘Super Interceptors’ Carrying JASSM-ER

Aerospace & Defense

Russia’s New ‘Diesel’ Lada-Class Submarines Summed Up in 4 Words

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

A 100,000-ton US Navy nuclear aircraft carrier hit a tanker and lost F/A-18s to friendly fire, a tow tractor and a snapped arresting cable, investigators found undermanned watches, skipped maintenance and a ‘just get it done’ culture, and the fleet behind her is 18,000 sailors short

Aerospace & Defense

Four US Navy battleships mothballed for decades came back in 1982 for $1.7 billion to answer a Soviet nuclear battlecruiser, one plan cut off an aft 16-inch turret for a Harrier flight deck, the Navy bolted on 32 Tomahawks and 16 Harpoons instead, and all four were gone by 1992

Aerospace & Defense

Lockheed Drew Up an SR-71 Blackbird Firing 210-Kiloton Nuclear Missiles From 80,000 Feet at Mach 3.2, Range 500 Nautical Miles, and Half Would Have Missed

Aerospace & Defense

The SR-71 Blackbird’s Ancestor Was Redrawn in 1961 to Carry 4 Nuclear Bombs at Mach 3.2 and 90,000 Feet, Then the Air Force Chose the 6-Engine XB-70 Valkyrie

Aerospace & Defense

A 122-missile cruiser had $161.15 million set aside for a four-year overhaul and was decommissioned before a worker touched her, one of four the Navy retired mid-upgrade after putting $1.84 billion into them, and the three it finished leave the fleet in 2029

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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.