US Air Force Archives

Aerospace & Defense

F-117 Nighthawks Flew 2 Percent of Desert Storm’s Sorties and Hit 40 Percent of the Targets — More Than 1,500 of Them in 43 Nights, Without a Single Loss. 8 Years Later a 1961 Soviet Missile Shot 1 Down.

Colonel Zoltán Dani did not get lucky. He moved his missile battery constantly through the 78-day campaign, used couriers and landlines instead of radios,...

Steve BalestrieriSeptember 10, 2026

Aerospace & Defense

The US Air Force Built Only 21 B-2 Spirits and They Cost About $2,000,000,000 Each. It Wants at Least 100 B-21 Raiders at Roughly $750,000,000 Apiece.

The B-21's average procurement unit cost target was set at about $550,000,000 in 2010 dollars — roughly $750,000,000 today. The program is projected at...

Brandon WeichertSeptember 10, 2026

Aerospace & Defense

A UK Ministry of Defence Official Says GCAP Fighter Will Carry Twice the Internal Weapons Payload of an F-35 and Control Uncrewed Aircraft Alongside It. Almost Nothing Else About the Aircraft Is Public.

The Global Combat Air Programme is meant to give Britain, Japan and Italy a sixth-generation stealth fighter by 2035. Japan allocated $1,270,000,000 to it...

Isaac SeitzSeptember 10, 2026

Aerospace & Defense

The US Air Force Retired the F-117 Nighthawk in 2008 and Never Stopped Flying It. The Service Now Says the Aircraft Will Stay in the Air Until 2034 — 26 Years After Its Own Retirement.

Lockheed built 64 F-117 Nighthawks — 5 development aircraft and 59 production F-117As — in a classified program costing about $6,560,000,000. The Air Force...

Brandon WeichertSeptember 10, 2026

Aerospace & Defense

Congress Spent $100,000,000 Bringing Just 2 SR-71 Blackbirds Back from Retirement in 1995 and Another $30,000,000 in 1997. By 1998 the Program Was Dead Again.

Across its whole service life the SR-71 Blackbird accumulated 53,490 flight hours, 11,675 of them above Mach 3, over 17,300 sorties. By the late...

Brandon WeichertSeptember 10, 2026

U.S. Air Force F-22 Raptors, E-3 Sentrys, C-17 Globemaster IIIs, C-130J Herculeses and C-12F Hurons participate in a close formation taxi known as an elephant walk at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, May 5, 2020. This event displayed the ability of the 3rd Wing, 176th Wing and the 477th Fighter Group to maintain constant readiness throughout COVID-19 by Total Force Integration between active-duty, Guard and Reserve units to continue defending the U.S. homeland and ensuring a free and open Indo-Pacific. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Jonathan Valdes Montijo)

Aerospace & Defense

The US Air Force Capped F-22 Raptor Production at 187 Aircraft at About $143,000,000 Each. In November 2009 a French Rafale Costing About 64,000,000 Euros Got Behind 1 and Took the Shot.

The F-22 Raptor was built to kill an enemy fighter before that fighter knew it was there, at roughly $143,000,000 an aircraft. At the...

Brandon WeichertSeptember 10, 2026

Aerospace & Defense

Northrop Spent More Than $750,000,000 of Its Own Money on the F-20 Tigershark Without a Dollar of Pentagon Funding. It Sold 0 Aircraft and Wrote Off About $1,200,000,000.

Northrop funded the F-20 Tigershark itself — more than $750,000,000 with no Pentagon research money. The aircraft out-turned the F-16 at 13.2 degrees per...

Steve BalestrieriSeptember 10, 2026

Aerospace & Defense

The Government Accountability Office Reviewed All 13 Programs in the US Air Force’s $21,000,000,000 B-52 Modernization and Found 10 of Them in Trouble. The Engine Replacement Went From $3,000,000,000 to $15,400,000,000.

The Government Accountability Office examined all 13 programs inside the US Air Force's roughly $21,000,000,000 B-52 modernization effort and found 10 of them running...

Caleb LarsonSeptember 10, 2026

Aerospace & Defense

The F-14 Tomcat’s Engine Was Designed in 1958 for a Short-Haul Airliner. The US Navy Put It in a Dogfighter Anyway, and It Took Until 1988 to Put a Proper Fighter Engine In.

The Pratt & Whitney TF30 began in 1958 as a proposal for a short-haul jet airliner. It ended up in the F-14 Tomcat because...

Steve BalestrieriSeptember 10, 2026

The X-43A was a small experimental research aircraft designed to flight-demonstrate the technology of airframe-integrated supersonic ramjet or "scramjet" propulsion at hypersonic speeds above Mach 5, or five times the speed of sound. Its scramjet engine is an air-breathing engine in which the airflow through the engine remains supersonic.

Aerospace & Defense

NASA Spent About $230,000,000 Over 8 Years and Flew the X-43A 3 Times. Its Scramjet Held Mach 9.68 for About 10 Seconds on 16 November 2004, and the Funding Ended Within Weeks — Before the Team Had Published the Results.

On 16 November 2004 a 12-foot NASA research aircraft separated from a booster at almost Mach 10 over the Pacific, lit a hydrogen-fueled scramjet,...

Harry J. KazianisSeptember 10, 2026

19FortyFive

All posts tagged "US Air Force"

Aerospace & Defense

F-117 Nighthawks Flew 2 Percent of Desert Storm’s Sorties and Hit 40 Percent of the Targets — More Than 1,500 of Them in 43 Nights, Without a Single Loss. 8 Years Later a 1961 Soviet Missile Shot 1 Down.

Aerospace & Defense

The US Air Force Built Only 21 B-2 Spirits and They Cost About $2,000,000,000 Each. It Wants at Least 100 B-21 Raiders at Roughly $750,000,000 Apiece.

Aerospace & Defense

A UK Ministry of Defence Official Says GCAP Fighter Will Carry Twice the Internal Weapons Payload of an F-35 and Control Uncrewed Aircraft Alongside It. Almost Nothing Else About the Aircraft Is Public.

Aerospace & Defense

The US Air Force Retired the F-117 Nighthawk in 2008 and Never Stopped Flying It. The Service Now Says the Aircraft Will Stay in the Air Until 2034 — 26 Years After Its Own Retirement.

Aerospace & Defense

Congress Spent $100,000,000 Bringing Just 2 SR-71 Blackbirds Back from Retirement in 1995 and Another $30,000,000 in 1997. By 1998 the Program Was Dead Again.

Aerospace & Defense

The US Air Force Capped F-22 Raptor Production at 187 Aircraft at About $143,000,000 Each. In November 2009 a French Rafale Costing About 64,000,000 Euros Got Behind 1 and Took the Shot.

Aerospace & Defense

Northrop Spent More Than $750,000,000 of Its Own Money on the F-20 Tigershark Without a Dollar of Pentagon Funding. It Sold 0 Aircraft and Wrote Off About $1,200,000,000.

Aerospace & Defense

The Government Accountability Office Reviewed All 13 Programs in the US Air Force’s $21,000,000,000 B-52 Modernization and Found 10 of Them in Trouble. The Engine Replacement Went From $3,000,000,000 to $15,400,000,000.

Aerospace & Defense

The F-14 Tomcat’s Engine Was Designed in 1958 for a Short-Haul Airliner. The US Navy Put It in a Dogfighter Anyway, and It Took Until 1988 to Put a Proper Fighter Engine In.

Aerospace & Defense

NASA Spent About $230,000,000 Over 8 Years and Flew the X-43A 3 Times. Its Scramjet Held Mach 9.68 for About 10 Seconds on 16 November 2004, and the Funding Ended Within Weeks — Before the Team Had Published the Results.

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