19FortyFive
Aerospace, Defense Industry & Global Affairs Analysis
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Latest posts
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Russia’s New Laika-Class Nuclear Attack Submarine Summed Up in 1 Word
Russia’s Project 545 Laika-class, once code-named Husky, is the fifth-generation submarine meant to replace the Yasen-class and the Soviet-era Akula, Sierra II and Victor III boats.
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The 2026 Midterms Is the Foreign Policy Election and Donald Trump Will Lose
Conventional wisdom says Americans vote on domestic concerns and ignore the world abroad. Robert Kelly argues the 2026 midterms are breaking that rule: an eighth inconclusive month of war with Iran has spiked gas prices, forced a sanctions reversal on Russian diesel, and put the…
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Years Later, General James ‘Mad Dog’ Mattis and His Line on Leadership and Failure Is Still One of the Greatest Military Quotes in Armed Forces History
Summary and Key Points: A line commonly attributed to James Mattis holds that wise leadership requires collaboration, or it ends in failure, and his career reads like a long argument for it. Born September 8, 1950, in Pullman, Washington, he enlisted in the Marine Corps Reserve…
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Soviet Sub Komsomolets Dove to 3,350 Feet, a Record. It Lies 5,500 Feet Down With 2 Nuclear Torpedoes
The K-278 Komsomolets was the only Mike-class submarine the Soviet Union ever built: a titanium double hull, a reactor that cooled itself without noisy pumps, and a crew of 64 against 143 on a US Los Angeles-class boat. In August 1984 she set the attack-submarine depth record at…
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Germany Wants Into the GCAP 6th-Gen Fighter. Japan Fears Berlin Would Push the Jet Past Its 2035 Deadline
Germany is studying whether to join GCAP, the sixth-generation fighter Britain, Japan and Italy launched in December 2022 for service by 2035, after its own FCAS project with France and Spain broke down in fights between Dassault and Airbus over who leads and who owns the…
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I Hunted the Soviet Victor III Sub From a US Navy Helicopter. We Could Only Hear It Inside 1 Mile
The Soviet Victor III attack submarine, introduced in 1979, was the first Soviet boat quiet enough to hide in the ocean’s background noise. As an SH-2F LAMPS aircrewman hunting it in the early 1980s, I remember our estimate of its detection range: under one mile. We learned why…
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Can Iran Sink a US Aircraft Carrier? The US Navy Blasted USS America for Weeks in 2005 Before Scuttling Her
Iran recently fired a hypersonic missile at USS George Washington. In 2005 the Navy blasted the retired carrier USS America for weeks, 300 miles off Virginia, and she stayed afloat until scuttled on May 14. Sinking a carrier is hard. Damaging one is not.
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China Wants 9 Aircraft Carriers by 2035. That’s One New Carrier Every 18 Months, and the Next Is Nuclear
The Pentagon’s China Military Power Report says the People’s Liberation Army Navy plans to operate nine aircraft carriers by 2035. China has three today, and a fourth, the Type 004, its first nuclear-powered carrier at up to 120,000 tons, is believed to be under construction at…
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The Royal Navy’s Vanguard-Class Nuclear Submarines Is Now Officially Running on Borrowed Time
The Royal Navy's Dreadnought-class SSBNs are still years away, and the Vanguards have to hold the line until she arrives.
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The Royal Navy Had to Take an Astute-Class Nuclear Attack Submarine And Cannibalize it for Spare Parts
Steve Balestrieri puts a name on the Royal Navy’s submarine problem: HMS Ambush, laid down at Barrow in 2003, delivered in 2013 and not to sea since August 2022, now sitting at Faslane while engineers pull parts out of her to keep her sisters running.
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‘Sea-Pig’: The US Navy’s Canceled General Dynamics F-111B Aircraft Carrier Fighter, Summed Up in 1 Word
The Pentagon forced the Navy and Air Force to share one jet in the 1960s. The Air Force’s F-111A delivered 25,000 to 30,000 pounds of ordnance; the Navy’s F-111B, the Sea-Pig, hit 70,000 to 90,000 pounds against a 50,000-pound goal, too heavy for carrier elevators and arresting…
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78,000-Tons of Nuclear Aircraft Carrier Power for France: The France Libre Carrier Summed Up In Just 1 Word
France Libre, formerly PANG, is the 78,000-ton, 1,020-foot nuclear carrier meant to replace Charles de Gaulle, with EMALS catapults and 30 Rafale F5s.
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100,000-Ton Nuclear Nimitz-Class Aircraft Carriers Are Reaching the End of the Line for the US Navy Summed Up in 1 Word
Nimitz-class carriers list slightly to starboard under a full combat load, a List Control System flaw the Navy corrects with fresh-water ballast that cuts into counter-flooding capability.
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‘Mind-shattering Mach 3.2 at 90,000 Feet’: The CIA’s A-12 Oxcart Had SR-71 Blackbird DNA and Speed to Match
After the 1960 U-2 shootdown, the CIA wanted a plane nothing could catch: Lockheed’s A-12 Oxcart, Mach 3.2 at 90,000 feet, tested at Area 51, where its night flights prompted most civilian UFO reports. Pilots wore David Clark S-901 space suits against a 150°F cockpit and minus…
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Diesel Aircraft Carriers: The US Navy ‘Supercarrier’ Question That No One Seems to Be Asking as it Breaks the Nuclear Taboo
Every Nimitz-class carrier spends three to five years in a midlife Refueling and Complex Overhaul; France’s Charles de Gaulle refuels every six years in about 18 months. The US Navy went nuclear in the 1950s for endurance, after foreign port restrictions sank plans for nuclear…
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65,000-ton Royal Navy Queen Elizabeth Aircraft Carrier Is a Floating Mistake and Has Been Hobbled by Mechanical Failures
Britain’s two Queen Elizabeth-class carriers were built across 6 shipyards and 90 companies employing 10,000 workers. HMS Prince of Wales lost 6 months to a burst fire main and 9 months to a misaligned shaft; HMS Queen Elizabeth lost 4 months in 2024.
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About 10,000 People Kept the US Air Force F-117 Nighthawk Secret While Its Pilots Commuted From Nellis to Tonopah on Minimally Marked 727s and the Air Force Flew A-7 Corsairs as a Cover Story
For most of the 1980s the F-117 Nighthawk officially didn’t exist. Its pilots commuted from Nellis to Tonopah on minimally marked 727s and flew only after dark, while the Air Force flew A-7 Corsairs as a cover story and about 10,000 people kept the secret.
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China Claims Its AI Seeker Recognizes the F-22 and F-35 97.1 Percent of the Time, and the Problem Is Not the Accuracy: the Jets It Recognized Were Mock-Ups, and the Real-Aircraft Data Is Confidential
Chinese researchers claim an AI system for missile infrared seekers recognizes F-22 and F-35 heat signatures with up to 97.1 percent accuracy. The model was trained on 3,245 infrared images, the F-22s and F-35s in the test were mock-ups, and the lead researcher says data on…
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Russia’s Titanium Alfa-Class Submarine Summed Up in 3 Words the US Navy Couldn’t Match
Sean Spoonts, a former Navy anti-submarine warfare operator, traces the Soviet Alfa-class (Project 705 Lira) from World War II submarines that sank 55 percent of Japan’s navy, and the 1958 USS George Washington and 1959 K-19 missile boats, to a titanium hull welded in argon,…
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Russia’s Diesel ‘Black Hole’ Kilo-Class Submarine Summed Up in 2 Words
Sean Spoonts, a former Navy anti-submarine warfare operator, argues the Kilo-class ‘black hole’ submarine never earned the name: respected Charlie-class and feared Victor III boats that hit carrier USS Kitty Hawk undetected, versus a Kilo that hides 45 days at 3 knots, then…