US Air Force Archives

Chinese J-20 Stealth Fighter. Image Credit: Chinese Internet.

Aerospace & Defense

China’s J-20 And J-35A Fighters Don’t Have To Beat US Military F-22 Raptors And F-35s. Beijing Is Building Enough That They Don’t Need To

America built 187 F-22 Raptors and shut the line in 2011. Satellite imagery suggests Chengdu alone builds 100 to 120 J-20s a year, matching...

Harry J. KazianisOctober 8, 2026

Aerospace & Defense

America Did Not Have Enough High-Grade Titanium to Build the USAF SR-71 Blackbird, So the CIA Bought It From the Soviet Union Through Shell Companies in Neutral Countries. The Airframe Was 85 to 90 Percent Titanium, and Much of the Ore Came Out of Soviet Ukraine.

To survive 1,000-degree leading edges at Mach 3.2, the SR-71 Blackbird had to be about 90 percent titanium, and the world’s dominant supplier was...

Harry J. KazianisOctober 8, 2026

Aerospace & Defense

Boeing Spent $67,000,000 of Its Own Cash 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.

The YF-118G Bird of Prey was a stealth jet built at Area 51 from spare parts: King Air landing gear, a Harrier ejection seat,...

Steve BalestrieriOctober 8, 2026

Aerospace & Defense

An 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.

A B-2 Spirit carried an LRASM from Whiteman to Guam and, on June 27, 2026, fired it from inside its bomb bay at USS...

Steve BalestrieriOctober 8, 2026

Aerospace & Defense

Like ‘Time Travel’: Air Force SR-71 Blackbird Pilot Recalls Flying So Fast He Landed at Beale AFB Almost Day Before Taking off From Kadena AB

SR-71 pilot David Peters took off from Kadena at 10 a.m. Saturday, swept the Korean DMZ and Kamchatka, tanked twice, and sat down at...

Caleb LarsonOctober 8, 2026

F-15J Fighter from Japan Creative Commons Image

Aerospace & Defense

Japan’s Fast Mach 2.5 F-15J Fighter Won’t Ever Fly for the Air Force As It Was Custom Built for Tokyo

The first F-15J rolled out in St. Louis on June 4, 1980, with its nuclear wiring removed and American jammers withheld. Mitsubishi built the...

Steve BalestrieriOctober 8, 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 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.

A clean F-22 Raptor has a combat range of about 590 nautical miles, less than the Su-57's 670 or the J-20's 1,100, and it...

Isaac SeitzOctober 8, 2026

A Japan Air Self Defense Force F-15 (F-15DJ) in flight, as viewed from the boom operator position of a U.S. Air Force KC-135 from the 909th Air Refueling Squadron, Kadena Air Base, after being refueled during air refueling training July 30, 2009.

Aerospace & Defense

Forget the F-35 or China’s J-20: Japan Is Turning 98 F-15J Eagles Into ‘Super Interceptors’ Carrying JASSM-ER

Mitsubishi's F-15J was built without nukes or America's full jamming suite. Now the Japan Super Interceptor program gives 98 of the 1980s Eagles an...

Caleb LarsonOctober 7, 2026

SR-71 Blackbird on the Tarmac NASA Photo

Aerospace & Defense

The Air Force SR-71 Blackbird Burned Through 8,000 Gallons of Jet Fuel On the Way to Hitting Mach 3 and over 80,000 Feet of Altitude

At Mach 3 the SR-71 Blackbird drank 8,000 gallons of JP-7 an hour, so pilots pumped fuel aft to zero the trim, nudged the...

Georgia GilholyOctober 7, 2026

A U.S. Air Force F-15EX Eagle II assigned to Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, flies a training mission over southeast United States, March 23, 2026. The 96th Test Wing and 53rd Wing perform developmental and operational test series on the platform including next-generation survivability, radars, sensors and networking capabilities. (U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Blake Wiles)

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

The only time a fighter has killed a satellite: Sept. 13, 1985, an F-15 Eagle pulled a 3.8g zoom climb past 38,000 feet at...

Steve BalestrieriOctober 7, 2026

19FortyFive

All posts tagged "US Air Force"

Aerospace & Defense

China’s J-20 And J-35A Fighters Don’t Have To Beat US Military F-22 Raptors And F-35s. Beijing Is Building Enough That They Don’t Need To

Aerospace & Defense

America Did Not Have Enough High-Grade Titanium to Build the USAF SR-71 Blackbird, So the CIA Bought It From the Soviet Union Through Shell Companies in Neutral Countries. The Airframe Was 85 to 90 Percent Titanium, and Much of the Ore Came Out of Soviet Ukraine.

Aerospace & Defense

Boeing Spent $67,000,000 of Its Own Cash 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

An 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

Like ‘Time Travel’: Air Force SR-71 Blackbird Pilot Recalls Flying So Fast He Landed at Beale AFB Almost Day Before Taking off From Kadena AB

Aerospace & Defense

Japan’s Fast Mach 2.5 F-15J Fighter Won’t Ever Fly for the Air Force As It Was Custom Built for Tokyo

Aerospace & Defense

The 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

Forget the F-35 or China’s J-20: Japan Is Turning 98 F-15J Eagles Into ‘Super Interceptors’ Carrying JASSM-ER

Aerospace & Defense

The Air Force SR-71 Blackbird Burned Through 8,000 Gallons of Jet Fuel On the Way to Hitting Mach 3 and over 80,000 Feet of Altitude

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

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