Smart Bombs: Military, Defense and National Security
Air superiority is the key reason the U.S. Air Force B-52 has been successful over Iran, as the large, non-stealthy classic platform would face...
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Amid U.S.-China competition, Australia has proven to be a strong U.S. ally and, frequently, a thorn in China’s side. While Australia continues to demonstrate...
Summary and Key Points: The U.S. Navy’s latest shipbuilding plan would retire 46 ships from 2027 to 2031 — including 2 aircraft carriers, 10...
Russia has long competed with the United States and other Western powers for innovative military aviation designs. During the Cold War, this lust for...
Summary and Key Points: The USS Nimitz — laid down in 1968 and originally scheduled to begin decommissioning at Norfolk this month — has...
Iran: A War at the Wrong Time and Place: As the war in Iran continues and analysts debate how long it will last and...
Strategic expert Andrew A. Michta explores how Russia is capitalizing on the Iran War to consolidate gains in Europe. With U.S. resources drained and...
Key Points and Summary – The recent NATO summit in The Hague, where European allies agreed to a new 5% of GDP defense spending...
The Trump administration made the Russia-Ukraine ceasefire its priority foreign policy initiative shortly after the inauguration. Setting aside Donald Trump’s campaign rhetoric that he...
Summary and Key Points: In the waters off Florida in early 2015, a French nuclear attack submarine named Saphir — a 1970s-era Rubis-class boat,...
Summary and Key Points: The USS Gerald R. Ford is the most expensive warship ever built — a $13 billion supercarrier and the most...
Summary and Key Points on the X-20: Years before the Space Shuttle, the US Air Force had designed a reusable, piloted spaceplane that launched...
Summary and Key Points: On November 16, 2004, a twelve-foot unmanned NASA aircraft lit a scramjet with no moving parts and rode it to...
President Donald Trump arrived in Beijing on Wednesday for a 2-day summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Trump is the first sitting U.S. president...
Canada committed in 2023 to buy 88 Lockheed Martin F-35A stealth fighters to replace its CF-18 fleet — today it has firmly committed to...
Two classified Russian military satellites maintained a 10-foot gap in low Earth orbit on April 28, while traveling at 17,000 miles per hour. The...
A new study has uncovered a deeply troubling problem in the world’s network of undersea commercial tunnels: rubber GINA gaskets are degrading 35% faster...
Summary and Key Points: At the 1985 Geneva Summit, President Ronald Reagan and Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev issued a joint statement declaring that a...
On May 9, 2026, Russia held its annual Victory Day parade in Red Square. It was the shortest in the event’s history. Just 43...
The U.S. war with Iran has now lasted more than two months. Pentagon munitions stockpiles are critically short. The Pentagon recently attempted to reclaim...
The Iran Ceasefire Isn’t Dead. That’s Exactly the Problem: The ceasefire is holding, and Iran is the reason. Not because Tehran has any interest...
Fake Russian IDs, Orders Never to Be Captured, and 50% Casualties: Inside North Korea’s Secret War in Ukraine The Russian Army has sustained nearly...
Summary and Key Points: Dr. Bruce E. Bechtol Jr., a political science professor and proliferation expert, evaluates the strategic partnership between Iran and North...
Summary and Key Points: Reuben F. Johnson, a veteran defense technology analyst and Casimir Pulaski Foundation fellow, scrutinizes the Ninth Congress of the Workers’...
Korea’s Division Isn’t a Glitch Anymore. It’s a Feature of the New Order The division of Korea was always understood to be temporary. In...
Air superiority is the key reason the U.S. Air Force B-52 has been successful over Iran, as the large, non-stealthy classic platform would face...
The secrecy and enthusiasm surrounding the U.S. Air Force’s highly successful B-21 Raider stealth bomber program have inspired many to speculate about the mysterious,...
The U.S. Navy has systems capable of guiding an airplane in for a landing—some aircraft can land completely on autopilot. The very first airplane...
The United States Air Force has some of the best-trained pilots in the world serving in its ranks. These pilots are trained to serve...
As part of our work at 19FortyFive, we regularly visit military facilities and museums to document aircraft that helped shape modern warfare. In July...
