19FortyFive — Defense, National Security and Military Analysis

Aerospace & Defense

I Am a Retired US Army Special Forces NCO: The M2 Browning .50 Caliber Was Adopted in 1933 and Will Turn 100 Years Old in Service in 2033. About 3,000,000 Have Been Built.

Ma Deuce: The M2 Browning .50 Caliber That Refuses to Retire – Some weapons are built for a war. The M2 Browning was built...

Steve Balestrieri7 hours ago

260516-N-FY193-1763 NORFOLK, Va. (May 16, 2026) USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78) returned to Naval Station Norfolk, May 16, 2026, following a historic 11-month deployment to U.S. 2nd, 4th, 5th, and 6th Fleets as part of the Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group. Before returning to Norfolk after 326 days, the Gerald R. Ford crew conducted 23 replenishments-at-sea and sailed over 57,713 nautical miles. Embarked Carrier Air Wing 8 logged more than 5,760 flight hours and 12,200 flight launches. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Mike Shen)

Aerospace & Defense

$4,000,000 to Flush a Toilet on USS Gerald R. Ford? The Answer Is Yes for this Nuclear Aircraft Carrier

The VCHT replaced gravity plumbing the Navy had used since the age of sail — narrower pipes, less fresh water, bends where straight drops...

Sean Spoonts22 hours ago

USS Kingsville (LCS 36) sails toward Naval Surface Warfare Center, Port Hueneme Division (NSWC PHD) in California on a recent morning as a flock of brown pelicans flies low over the Pacific Ocean. Homeported in San Diego, LCS 36 is an Independence-variant littoral combat ship that was commissioned in 2024. The arrival marked the ship’s first visit to NSWC PHD, where it underwent a Combat Systems Assessment Team event to ensure combat readiness. Designed to operate closer to shore than guided-missile destroyers and cruisers, USS Kingsville is outfitted for mine countermeasures missions. (U.S. Navy photo by Eric Parsons)

Aerospace & Defense

The US Navy’s Littoral Combat Ship Is the Big Headache That Won’t Seem to Ever End

The Navy tried to offload its Freedom-class Littoral Combat Ships on South American partners, then pulled two off the sales list in January. It...

Brandon Weichert22 hours ago

Aerospace & Defense

‘USS Never-Docks’: Why It Feels Like US Navy Nuclear Aircraft Carriers Never Come Home and The Toll They Take on Sailors and Their Families

With 11 carrier strike groups covering the commitments 15 once did, nine- and 11-month deployments are becoming routine. Crews get 12-hour shifts, deferred maintenance...

Sean Spoonts1 day ago

Aerospace & Defense

In 1997 a Bankrupt Russian Tank Factory Showed Off a Prototype That Stored Its Ammunition in an Isolated Turret Bustle Behind Blowout Panels. Nobody Bought a Single One. Russian Tanks in Ukraine Still Carry Their Shells in a Ring Under the Crew.

Object 640 took a lengthened T-80U hull and put an entirely new low-profile turret on it, with Kaktus reactive armor, a planned 1,400-horsepower turbine,...

Isaac Seitz1 day ago

Aerospace & Defense

Oil Might Be Flowing Through the Strait of Hormuz, But for All the Wrong Reasons

Aerospace & Defense

The US Navy’s Iowa-Class Battleships Cost a Fortune for a Few Years at Sea. NASA’s SR-71 Blackbird Is Next

Aerospace & Defense

‘Seals and Gaskets Have Dried Out and Would Crumble’: Why Bringing Back a Mach 3 SR-71 Blackbird Into the Sky Might Takes Years and a Lot of Cash

The Embassy

9/11’s Forgotten Lesson

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

Russia Worked Out That Ammunition Stored in the Fighting Compartment Was Blowing Its Tanks Apart, So the T-90M Got a Bustle Magazine With Blowout Panels. It Kept the Carousel Under the Crew Anyway. Oryx Has Now Documented 159 T-90M Losses — More Than Russia Had When the War Began.

Aerospace & Defense

A Conventionally Powered Aircraft Carrier Refuels in a Few Hours. Refueling a Nuclear Nimitz-Class Carrier Takes 3 to 5 Years and Requires Cutting Holes Through the Decks to Reach the Reactors. USS John C. Stennis Is Finishing Hers 14 Months Late.

Aerospace & Defense

F-47 NGAD and F/A-XX: Boeing Now Builds US Air Force and US Navy Sixth-Generation Stealth Fighters. Now the Hard Work Begins

Aerospace & Defense

I Was a US Navy Anti-Submarine Warfare Operator: The Soviet Alfa-Class Was the Fastest and Deepest-Diving Submarine Ever Built — 40-Plus Knots and a 900-Meter Design Depth. X-Rays Found Cracks in the Titanium, So They Capped It at 400. The Reactor Was So Loud They Could Not Use the Speed Either.

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

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

The Embassy

‘Pivotal Meeting’: Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Donald Trump Will Meet Today. Here’s What’s on the Agenda to Try and End the Ukraine War

The Embassy

The Race to Succeed Putin Has Begun

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

I Am a Retired US Army Special Forces NCO: The M2 Browning .50 Caliber Was Adopted in 1933 and Will Turn 100 Years Old in Service in 2033. About 3,000,000 Have Been Built.

Aerospace & Defense

$4,000,000 to Flush a Toilet on USS Gerald R. Ford? The Answer Is Yes for this Nuclear Aircraft Carrier

Aerospace & Defense

The US Navy’s Littoral Combat Ship Is the Big Headache That Won’t Seem to Ever End

Aerospace & Defense

‘USS Never-Docks’: Why It Feels Like US Navy Nuclear Aircraft Carriers Never Come Home and The Toll They Take on Sailors and Their Families

Aerospace & Defense

In 1997 a Bankrupt Russian Tank Factory Showed Off a Prototype That Stored Its Ammunition in an Isolated Turret Bustle Behind Blowout Panels. Nobody Bought a Single One. Russian Tanks in Ukraine Still Carry Their Shells in a Ring Under the Crew.

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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

China’s J-20 And J-35A Stealth 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

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