19FortyFive — Defense, National Security and Military Analysis

STRAIT OF HORMUZ (May 11, 2012) Guided-missile cruiser USS Cape St. George (CG 71) and aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) transit the Strait of Hormuz. Both ships are deployed to the U.S. 5th Fleet area of responsibility conducting maritime security operations, theater security cooperation efforts and support missions as part of Operation Enduring Freedom. (U.S. Navy Photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Alex R. Forster/Released)

Aerospace & Defense

100,000-Ton US Navy Nuclear Aircraft Carrier USS Abraham Lincoln Could Be Out Of Action for a Long Time

The Navy historically allowed six months for a Planned Incremental Availability. The Carl Vinson's latest ran seven, from November 2025 to June 12, 2026....

Brandon WeichertSeptember 11, 2026

Aerospace & Defense

The US Army Says the New M1E3 Abrams Will Be About 25 Percent Lighter Than Today’s Tank and Burn About 50 Percent Less Fuel. It Has an Unmanned Turret, an Autoloader, and a Crew of 3 Instead of 4 — the First American Main Battle Tank Since 1980 Without a Human Loader.

The Army killed the M1A2 SEPv4 upgrade in September 2023 and started over, creating the M1E3. Major General Glenn Dean explained why: "The Abrams...

Jack BuckbySeptember 11, 2026

George Patton Portrait Creative Commons Photo

Aerospace & Defense

81 Years Ago, US Army General George Patton’s Line on ‘Attack and Attack and Attack’ Is Still One of the Greatest Military Quotes in Armed Forces History

Patton died in December 1945, months after the war ended, and asked to be buried among his men. He lies at Luxembourg American Cemetery...

Stephen SilverSeptember 11, 2026

Aerospace & Defense

GCAP Could Get a 4th Partner. Airbus Says It Is Exploring German Participation in the British-Italian-Japanese Fighter Program, Which Aims to Field an Aircraft Around 2035, After France and Germany Killed the FCAS Fighter on June 9, 2026.

GCAP is the only European next-generation fighter program still standing. FCAS was supposed to replace the Rafale and the Eurofighter from around 2040, and...

Jack BuckbySeptember 11, 2026

Varyag under tow in Istanbul. Mainland China purchased the former Soviet carrier, Varyag, from the Ukraine in 1998 for about $20 million dollars (US). The Varyag was the newer, sister ship to the Russian Kuznetsov. But the Ukrainian government had never finished the carrier after the fall of the Soviet Union and had tried to sell it to various concerns. As a result, the carrier fell into a state of disrepair. The Chinese bought the carrier and indicated that the holding company that had purchased it planned to tow it to Red China and make it a floating casino.

Aerospace & Defense

China’s First Aircraft Carrier Was Bought from Ukraine By a Travel Agency for $20,000,000 in 1998 Under a Plan to Make It a Floating Casino in Macau. It Was Commissioned Into the People’s Liberation Army Navy as the Liaoning.

The Varyag aircraft carrier had no propulsion and no crew, so it had to be dragged. Turkey refused passage through the Bosphorus for sixteen...

Harrison KassSeptember 11, 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

On September 13, 1985, an F-15 Fighter Shot Down a Satellite at 345 Miles Up — 42 Years Later, No Aircraft Has Done It Again

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.

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

100,000-Ton US Navy Nuclear Aircraft Carrier USS Abraham Lincoln Could Be Out Of Action for a Long Time

Aerospace & Defense

The US Army Says the New M1E3 Abrams Will Be About 25 Percent Lighter Than Today’s Tank and Burn About 50 Percent Less Fuel. It Has an Unmanned Turret, an Autoloader, and a Crew of 3 Instead of 4 — the First American Main Battle Tank Since 1980 Without a Human Loader.

Aerospace & Defense

81 Years Ago, US Army General George Patton’s Line on ‘Attack and Attack and Attack’ Is Still One of the Greatest Military Quotes in Armed Forces History

Aerospace & Defense

GCAP Could Get a 4th Partner. Airbus Says It Is Exploring German Participation in the British-Italian-Japanese Fighter Program, Which Aims to Field an Aircraft Around 2035, After France and Germany Killed the FCAS Fighter on June 9, 2026.

Aerospace & Defense

China’s First Aircraft Carrier Was Bought from Ukraine By a Travel Agency for $20,000,000 in 1998 Under a Plan to Make It a Floating Casino in Macau. It Was Commissioned Into the People’s Liberation Army Navy as the Liaoning.

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.