China Archives

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

A U.S. Air Force F-22 Raptor, assigned to the F-22 Demonstration Team, executes precision aerial maneuvers during a practice airshow at Hill Air Force Base, Utah, Dec. 5, 2024. The practice session helps ensure the team maintains peak performance and readiness during the off-season. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Nicholas Rupiper)

Aerospace & Defense

The US Air Force F-22 Raptor Stealth Fighter Holds Speeds Above Mach 1.5 Without Ever Lighting an Afterburner. Its 2 Pratt & Whitney F119-PW-100 Engines Make About 35,000 Pounds of Thrust Each, and the Fleet Just Passed 1,000,000 Flight Hours on an Engine Last Built in 2013.

Supercruise is not just engine power. The F-22 carries its weapons internally rather than hung under the wings, so nothing is sitting in the...

Jack BuckbySeptember 12, 2026

Aerospace & Defense

The US Navy’s New $23,400,000,000 Nuclear Trump-Class Battleship Keeps Getting Called Obsolete Thanks to Drones. Chinese Military Experts Just Tested That Theory Out

The Trump-class lead ship, the 'battleship' USS Defiant, carries an estimated price tag of $23,400,000,000. Wang Lei's own conclusion is modest — artillery alone...

Isaac SeitzSeptember 12, 2026

China Railgun Chinese Internet Screenshot

Aerospace & Defense

China Bolted an Electromagnetic Railgun to the Bow of a Type 072III Landing Ship Back in December 2017 and Has Kept It at Sea Ever Since. The US Navy Spent About $500,000,000 Over 15 Years, Never Got Its Gun to Sea at All, and Cancelled the Program in July 2021.

A hypervelocity projectile is estimated at $25,000 to $85,000. A single Harpoon costs $1,400,000, and a Tomahawk the same or more. If a warship...

Harry J. KazianisSeptember 12, 2026

Aerospace & Defense

NASA’s X-43D Was Designed to Hold Mach 15 — About 11,000 Miles per Hour, 3 Miles Every Second — for 30 Seconds of Powered Flight. Development Was to Begin in Fiscal Year 2005, Run 4 Years, and End in 3 Flights a Year Apart. Not One Vehicle Was Ever Built.

Ninety miles in half a minute. The X-43D would have been an unmanned, hydrogen-fueled scramjet demonstrator built by NASA and Boeing, with active cooling...

Brandon WeichertSeptember 11, 2026

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

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

U.S. Air Force Capt. Nick “Laz” Le Tourneau, pilot and commander of the F-22 Raptor Aerial Demonstration Team, performs an aerial demonstration during the 52nd Annual SUN 'n FUN Aerospace Expo in Lakeland, Florida, April 14, 2026. Capt. Le Tourneau showcased the unmatched capabilities of the F-22 to the SUN ‘n FUN crowds by performing multiple series of combat maneuvers. (U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Mary Bowers)

Aerospace & Defense

The 9/11 Attacks Are Why the F-22 Raptor Was Cancelled and the Littoral Combat Ship War Born. The US Military Learned a Painful Lesson

The consequences of 9/11 ran straight into the procurement system. The Navy, unable to explain its role in a war on terror, committed to...

Robert FarleySeptember 11, 2026

U.S. Air Force Capt. Nick “Laz” Le Tourneau, pilot and commander of the F-22 Raptor Aerial Demonstration Team, performs for the 2026 Cleveland National Air Show in Cleveland, Ohio, Sept. 6, 2026. Le Tourneau showcased the aircraft’s performance capabilities through a series of planned maneuvers designed to highlight its speed, agility and operational employment. (U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Lauren Diaz)

Aerospace & Defense

The US Air Force F-22 Raptor Has a Combat Range of About 590 Nautical Miles. China’s J-20 Is Estimated at Around 1,100. New Stealth Fuel Tanks Take the Raptor to 850.

New photographs show the Raptor carrying shaped external fuel tanks and two sensor pods — one apparently housing infrared search and track, the capability...

Isaac SeitzSeptember 11, 2026

Aerospace & Defense

Japan’s Electromagnetic Railgun Fired More Than 100 Shots Without Replacing Its Rails. The US Navy Spent About $500,000,000 on Its Own Railgun and Shut the Program Down in 2021.

The US Navy put about $500,000,000 into an electromagnetic railgun and effectively ended the program in 2021, defeated in large part by rails that...

Harrison KassSeptember 10, 2026

19FortyFive

All posts tagged "China"

Aerospace & Defense

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

Aerospace & Defense

The US Air Force F-22 Raptor Stealth Fighter Holds Speeds Above Mach 1.5 Without Ever Lighting an Afterburner. Its 2 Pratt & Whitney F119-PW-100 Engines Make About 35,000 Pounds of Thrust Each, and the Fleet Just Passed 1,000,000 Flight Hours on an Engine Last Built in 2013.

Aerospace & Defense

The US Navy’s New $23,400,000,000 Nuclear Trump-Class Battleship Keeps Getting Called Obsolete Thanks to Drones. Chinese Military Experts Just Tested That Theory Out

Aerospace & Defense

China Bolted an Electromagnetic Railgun to the Bow of a Type 072III Landing Ship Back in December 2017 and Has Kept It at Sea Ever Since. The US Navy Spent About $500,000,000 Over 15 Years, Never Got Its Gun to Sea at All, and Cancelled the Program in July 2021.

Aerospace & Defense

NASA’s X-43D Was Designed to Hold Mach 15 — About 11,000 Miles per Hour, 3 Miles Every Second — for 30 Seconds of Powered Flight. Development Was to Begin in Fiscal Year 2005, Run 4 Years, and End in 3 Flights a Year Apart. Not One Vehicle Was Ever Built.

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

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.

Aerospace & Defense

The 9/11 Attacks Are Why the F-22 Raptor Was Cancelled and the Littoral Combat Ship War Born. The US Military Learned a Painful Lesson

Aerospace & Defense

The US Air Force F-22 Raptor Has a Combat Range of About 590 Nautical Miles. China’s J-20 Is Estimated at Around 1,100. New Stealth Fuel Tanks Take the Raptor to 850.

Aerospace & Defense

Japan’s Electromagnetic Railgun Fired More Than 100 Shots Without Replacing Its Rails. The US Navy Spent About $500,000,000 on Its Own Railgun and Shut the Program Down in 2021.

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