19FortyFive — Defense, National Security and Military Analysis

Aerospace & Defense

In 1987 Japan Agreed to Build a Licensed Version of the American F-16 Fighting Falcon Instead of Its Own Fighter. More Than 95 Percent of the Engineering Drawings Were Changed, and the Finished Mitsubishi F-2 Cost About $127,000,000 Each Against $30,000,000 for an F-16.

On March 11, 2011, the tsunami flooded Matsushima Air Base and submerged 18 F-2Bs in salt water. Five were scrapped. Japan repaired the other...

Steve BalestrieriSeptember 11, 2026

A U.S. Air Force F-35A Lightning II aircraft assigned to the 115th Fighter Wing, Wisconsin Air National Guard is parked on the ramp at sunrise during the 115th FW 2026 Combat Readiness Exercise, Operation Iron Orchid, at Volk Field Air National Guard Base, Camp Douglas, Wisconsin, June 26, 2026. Operation Iron Orchid is designed to assess and reinforce the wing’s ability to generate combat capability, sustain operations, protect personnel and resources, respond to evolving conditions, and execute mission-essential tasks in a realistic and challenging environment. (U.S. Air National Guard photo by Master Sgt. Mary Greenwood)

Aerospace & Defense

Canada Finalized an Agreement to Buy 88 Lockheed Martin F-35A Fighter Jets Back in January 2023. Almost 18 Months Into a Review Ordered by Prime Minister Mark Carney, Ottawa Is Committed to Only 16 of Them — and the First Ones Still Arrive This Year.

The F-35 has competition. Saab is pitching a mixed fleet. But the Gripen E flies on General Electric's F414, an American engine under U.S....

Jack BuckbySeptember 11, 2026

Su-57 artist rendering. Image Credit: Creative Commons.

Aerospace & Defense

Russia’s Su-57 Felon Has Exactly 1 Confirmed Export Customer: Algeria, Which Has Taken Delivery of 2 Aircraft. Estimates Put the Fighter’s Frontal Radar Cross-Section Between 0.1 and 1.0 Square Meters Against Roughly 0.0015 for the F-35A.

Russia ordered 76 Su-57s for delivery by 2027-2028. By early 2026 some estimates put the operational fleet at twenty to thirty. Moscow's defense industry...

Caleb LarsonSeptember 11, 2026

Aerospace & Defense

Canada Has Named Germany’s TKMS Preferred Supplier for Up to 12 Type 212CD Submarines, With the First 4 Due in 2034. Only 1 of Its 4 Existing Victoria-Class Boats Is Seaworthy, and Ottawa Has Never Published a Number for How Many Submariners It Will Need.

The Royal Canadian Navy lists the Victoria-class complement at 48 crew plus 11 trainees per boat. TKMS puts the Type 212CD core crew at...

Andrew LathamSeptember 11, 2026

Aerospace & Defense

A US Air Force B-2 Spirit Stealth Bomber Fired a Stealth Anti-Ship Missile at the USS Juneau, an Amphibious Ship Commissioned in 1969 and Left in Mothballs for 18 Years. It Still Took 2 Harpoons, a Japanese Torpedo, a Hellfire, and 2 More Missiles to Put Her Under.

LPD-10 was commissioned in 1969, brought Marines home from Vietnam, answered the Exxon Valdez spill in 1989, and sailed for Desert Shield. The Navy...

Steve BalestrieriSeptember 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

In 1987 Japan Agreed to Build a Licensed Version of the American F-16 Fighting Falcon Instead of Its Own Fighter. More Than 95 Percent of the Engineering Drawings Were Changed, and the Finished Mitsubishi F-2 Cost About $127,000,000 Each Against $30,000,000 for an F-16.

Aerospace & Defense

Canada Finalized an Agreement to Buy 88 Lockheed Martin F-35A Fighter Jets Back in January 2023. Almost 18 Months Into a Review Ordered by Prime Minister Mark Carney, Ottawa Is Committed to Only 16 of Them — and the First Ones Still Arrive This Year.

Aerospace & Defense

Russia’s Su-57 Felon Has Exactly 1 Confirmed Export Customer: Algeria, Which Has Taken Delivery of 2 Aircraft. Estimates Put the Fighter’s Frontal Radar Cross-Section Between 0.1 and 1.0 Square Meters Against Roughly 0.0015 for the F-35A.

Aerospace & Defense

Canada Has Named Germany’s TKMS Preferred Supplier for Up to 12 Type 212CD Submarines, With the First 4 Due in 2034. Only 1 of Its 4 Existing Victoria-Class Boats Is Seaworthy, and Ottawa Has Never Published a Number for How Many Submariners It Will Need.

Aerospace & Defense

A US Air Force B-2 Spirit Stealth Bomber Fired a Stealth Anti-Ship Missile at the USS Juneau, an Amphibious Ship Commissioned in 1969 and Left in Mothballs for 18 Years. It Still Took 2 Harpoons, a Japanese Torpedo, a Hellfire, and 2 More Missiles to Put Her Under.

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.