19FortyFive — Defense, National Security and Military Analysis

Aerospace & Defense

9/11 Bought China’s Military 2 Decades to Become a Powerhouse

In 2001 the People's Liberation Army fielded a handful of fourth-generation fighters, most bought from Russia or built under Russian licence. It was not...

Robert FarleySeptember 13, 2026

SR-71 Blackbird High in the Sky USAF Photo

Aerospace & Defense

A US Air Force Mach 3 SR-71 Blackbird Flew More Than 15,000 Miles in 10 Hours and 30 Minutes With 5 Aerial Refueling. The Limit Was Not Fuel, Not the Engines, and Not the Crew. It Was 212 Liters of Liquid Nitrogen.

The SR-71 Blackbird carried two consumables that each capped the mission. Liquid nitrogen in Dewar flasks in the nose wheel well, and triethylborane —...

Harry J. KazianisSeptember 13, 2026

USS South Dakota Colorized Photo Creative Commons Photo

Aerospace & Defense

Seaman First Class Calvin Graham Was 12 Years Old Aboard the 45,233-Ton Battleship USS South Dakota at the Second Naval Battle of Guadalcanal on 14-15 November 1942. Japanese Shellfire Killed 40 of Her Crew That Night.

USS South Dakota: Nine 16-inch/45 Mark 6 rifles in three triple turrets, twenty 5-inch/38s, and by 1945 some 76 Bofors 40mm and 67 Oerlikon...

Christian D. OrrSeptember 13, 2026

Battleships and heavy cruisers steam in column off Kamaishi, at the time they bombarded the iron works there, as seen from USS South Dakota (BB-57). USS Indiana (BB-58) is the nearest ship, followed by USS Massachusetts (BB-59). Cruisers Chicago (CA-136) and Quincy (CA-71) bring up the rear. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives.

Aerospace & Defense

The 45,233-Ton US Navy Battleship USS Indiana Carried 9 16-Inch Guns and 143 Anti-Aircraft Barrels, and Earned 9 Battle Stars From Marcus Island to Tokyo Bay. 2 of Her 3 Sister Ships Are Floating Museums Today. Indiana Was Stricken on 1 June 1962 and Broken Up the Following Year.

USS Indiana: Nine 16-inch/45 Mark 6 rifles in three triple turrets, twenty 5-inch/38s, and then the real wartime armament: 76 Bofors 40mm and 67...

Christian D. OrrSeptember 13, 2026

A U.S. Air Force F-22 Raptor assigned to the 525th Fighter Squadron, 3rd Wing, Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, takes off at Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, Aug. 9, 2021. Approximately 800 Airmen and 35 aircraft participated in Pacific Air Forces’ Dynamic Force Employment operation in Guam and Tinian. The operation focused on projecting forces into the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command’s area of responsibility in support of the 2018 National Defense Strategy, calling on the military to be a more lethal, adaptive and resilient force. (U.S. Air Force photo by Master Sgt. Richard P. Ebensberger)

Aerospace & Defense

A Boeing KC-46 Pegasus Boom Jammed in the Receptacle of an F-22 Raptor 100 Miles Off Virginia on July 8, 2025, Struck the Tanker After the Aircraft Separated, and Broke Off Into the Atlantic. The Air Force Put the Damage at $9,980,000.

On May 12 the Air Force and Boeing announced a readiness plan with an unusual first item: five early-production KC-46s that were not due...

Jack BuckbySeptember 13, 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

9/11 Bought China’s Military 2 Decades to Become a Powerhouse

Aerospace & Defense

A US Air Force Mach 3 SR-71 Blackbird Flew More Than 15,000 Miles in 10 Hours and 30 Minutes With 5 Aerial Refueling. The Limit Was Not Fuel, Not the Engines, and Not the Crew. It Was 212 Liters of Liquid Nitrogen.

Aerospace & Defense

Seaman First Class Calvin Graham Was 12 Years Old Aboard the 45,233-Ton Battleship USS South Dakota at the Second Naval Battle of Guadalcanal on 14-15 November 1942. Japanese Shellfire Killed 40 of Her Crew That Night.

Aerospace & Defense

The 45,233-Ton US Navy Battleship USS Indiana Carried 9 16-Inch Guns and 143 Anti-Aircraft Barrels, and Earned 9 Battle Stars From Marcus Island to Tokyo Bay. 2 of Her 3 Sister Ships Are Floating Museums Today. Indiana Was Stricken on 1 June 1962 and Broken Up the Following Year.

Aerospace & Defense

A Boeing KC-46 Pegasus Boom Jammed in the Receptacle of an F-22 Raptor 100 Miles Off Virginia on July 8, 2025, Struck the Tanker After the Aircraft Separated, and Broke Off Into the Atlantic. The Air Force Put the Damage at $9,980,000.

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.