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Aerospace, Defense Industry & Global Affairs Analysis
Site URL: www.19fortyfive.com/
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USS Constellation Was A Supercarrier With a Twist: A US Navy Aircraft Carrier with No Nuclear Power
Published: August 6, 2026 23:54
USS Constellation was decommissioned in August 2003 after 42 years and later sold for scrapping — the fate of most conventionally powered US carriers.
It Took Three Years and $20 Million to Prepare Essex-Class US Navy Aircraft Carrier USS Oriskany for Sinking. She Went Down in 37 Minutes.
Published: August 6, 2026 23:42
Preparing USS Oriskany for the seafloor took years and roughly $20 million. More than 150 workers opened and cleaned over 500 tanks, stripping fuel, oil, asbestos, batteries and the entire wooden flight deck. On 17 May 2006 the Navy detonated small charges…
Boeing’s X-32 Flew 144 Times, Refuelled in the Air, Went Supersonic and Landed Vertically. It Still Lost to the F-35
Published: August 6, 2026 23:28
Boeing's conventional X-32A first flew on 18 September 2000 and completed 66 flights, demonstrating aerial refuelling, weapons-bay operations and supersonic performance. The short-takeoff X-32B added another 78 flights and landed vertically. Between them…
One US Navy Battleship or Nearly Eight Destroyers: The Trade the Trump-Class Program Has Never Been Asked to Justify
Published: August 6, 2026 23:03
A modern Arleigh Burke Flight III destroyer costs about $3 billion. At $23.4 billion, USS Defiant represents nearly eight of them. Pursuing the battleship over a sceptical Congress would amount to a substantial redistribution of American investment toward…
Ukraine Built the World’s First Drone Branch in 2024 — Putin Just Ordered His Generals to Copy It, Two Years Late
Published: August 6, 2026 22:53
Kyiv stood up the world's first dedicated drone service in 2024. Two years later, the Kremlin is doing the same — while its own ministry reportedly promises Donetsk by New Year and its commanders quietly say 2027.
Vanguard-Class: Britain’s Nuclear Deterrent Rides on Four Submarines Aged 27 to 33. They Were Planned Around a 25-Year Service Life.
Published: August 6, 2026 20:47
Britain's entire strategic nuclear capability rests on four submarines: Vanguard, commissioned in 1993, Victorious in 1995, Vigilant in 1996 and Vengeance in 1999. Early planning assumed a service life of roughly 25 years. The oldest boat is now 33 and the…
Six Reasons the YF-23 Still Gets Called Better Than the US Air Force F-22 Raptor Stealth Fighter
Published: August 6, 2026 20:32
Northrop’s YF-23 emphasized stealth, efficient supercruise and reduced signatures, creating a legend that outlived the 1991 competition. The F-22 won because the Air Force evaluated the entire development program, including weapons demonstrations,…
In Late June 2026, All Five of Britain’s In-Service Nuclear Attack Submarines Were Tied Up Alongside at the Same Time
Published: August 6, 2026 20:20
In late June 2026 the most detailed public fleet survey found all five of Britain's in-service Astute-class attack submarines alongside at once: Astute, Ambush, Artful, Audacious and Anson. The last Trafalgar-class boat retired in December 2024, removing…
North Vietnamese Troops Called the F-111 “Whispering Death.” American Critics Called It the F-35 of Its Day
Published: August 6, 2026 20:01
After the F-111 flew 154 low-level sorties during Linebacker II in 1972, North Vietnamese forces gave it a name: "Whispering Death." At home the same aircraft was written off as a boondoggle, and one commentator later called it "the F-35 of its day." The…
The US Navy Wanted 29 Seawolf Submarines. It Got Three, at $3 Billion Each, and the Program Was Dead by 1995.
Published: August 6, 2026 19:36
The US Navy intended to build 29 Seawolf-class submarines over ten years. Budget pressure cut that to 12, and the end of the Cold War killed the rest in 1995, leaving three: Seawolf, Connecticut and Jimmy Carter. At about $3 billion each — $3.5 billion for…
“We Could See 3.5 Trillion More Stars at 80,000 Feet Than You Can on the Ground”: an SR-71 Pilot Over the Korean DMZ on a Moonless Night.
Published: August 6, 2026 18:44
Flying the Korean DMZ out of Kadena on a moonless night, former SR-71 pilot David Peters described a view unavailable from the ground: "We could see 3.5 trillion more stars at 80,000 feet than you can on the ground. That's according to Palomar Mountain…
NASA Set a Launch Date of 31 October 1973 to Send Three Astronauts Past Venus. The Mission Would Have Lasted 396 Days.
Published: August 6, 2026 18:24
Most people associate Apollo exclusively with the Moon, which makes sense, given that Apollo only ever went there. But after the lunar landing, NASA seriously studied sending astronauts in the Apollo program far beyond orbit. One of the most ambitious…
Canada Is Still Paying for F-35s It Has Not Decided to Buy. The First Jets Arrive This Year and the Review Is Still Open.
Published: August 6, 2026 18:08
Canada signed for 88 F-35As in 2023 with deliveries beginning this year, then reopened the question. Defence Minister David McGuinty has confirmed the review is still running, and Ottawa continues making payments on aircraft already under contract while…
GCAP 6th-Generation Stealth Fighter Has A Message for the F-35 and F-47 (And Even the FCAS)
Published: August 6, 2026 18:05
Mitsubishi Electric will build three facilities for electronics and components on the Global Combat Air Programme, and its chief financial officer expects that work to become profitable in 2029 or 2030 — "or perhaps a year before that." The fighter itself…
“A Future Administration Will Cancel the Program Before the First Ship Hits the Water”: The CBO Now Puts the Trump-Class Fleet at $455 Billion.
Published: August 6, 2026 17:34
The Congressional Budget Office now estimates the Trump-class program at $275 billion for 15 ships, rising to $455 billion if the president's 25-ship "Golden Fleet" is built. Mark Cancian of CSIS is blunt about the outcome: "It will take years to design,…
Standing on Venus Would Be Like Being 3,000 Feet Underwater at 867°F. Soviet Landers Survived Between 32 and 127 Minutes.
Published: August 6, 2026 16:12
Surface pressure on Venus runs about ninety times Earth's, equivalent to diving three thousand feet into the ocean, at an average surface temperature of 867°F — hot enough to melt lead and soften aluminium. The Soviet Venera landers, built inside titanium…
Russia Has A Fleet of Titanium Nuclear Attack Submarines and the US Navy Can’t Match It
Published: August 6, 2026 15:47
Russia's titanium Sierra remains an engineering achievement rather than a production model. Two Sierra II submarines remain associated with the Russian Northern Fleet, while the earlier Sierra I boats have largely been placed in reserve.
Donald Trump Won the Iran War
https://www.19fortyfive.com/2026/08/donald-trump-won-the-iran-war/
Published: August 6, 2026 15:33
The maximalists wanted regime change, the minimalists wanted nothing, and the doubters see only waffling. Carafano's answer: the victor gets to define victory — and everywhere you look, the region is moving Trump's way.
Japanese Shore Batteries Hit US Navy Battleship USS Colorado 22 Times at Tinian and Killed 43 of Her Crew. She Stayed on Station and Kept Firing.
Published: August 6, 2026 14:44
Supporting the landings on Tinian in 1944, USS Colorado was struck 22 times by Japanese shore batteries. Forty-three of her crew were killed and more than ninety wounded. The battleship did not withdraw. She remained on station and continued firing, and…
F-22 Raptor of Attack Submarines: The US Navy Has Only 3 Nuclear Seawolf-Class Sub and That Call Still Stings
Published: August 6, 2026 14:31
The Navy planned twenty-nine Seawolf-class attack submarines to take on the Soviet fleet. After the Cold War ended, Congress reduced the programme to twelve, then to three. At roughly $3 billion a boat, the class became a standing target for the Peace…
Thirty-Seven Percent of US Navy Nuclear Attack Submarines Cannot Deploy. USS Boise Waited in the Queue Since 2017 and Lost Her Certification to Dive.
Published: August 6, 2026 14:13
Thirty-seven percent of the US Navy's nuclear attack submarines cannot deploy because the shipyards cannot repair them fast enough. USS Boise, a Los Angeles-class boat, entered the maintenance queue in 2017 and waited so long that the Navy decertified her…
On 5 March 1962 One USAF B-58 Hustler Set Three World Speed Records. The Same Day, Another Crashed on Takeoff at Carswell and Killed Its Crew of Three.
Published: August 6, 2026 14:04
On 5 March 1962 the B-58 "Cowtown Hustler" flew from Los Angeles to New York City and back, set three world speed records and earned her crew the Bendix and Mackay Trophies. The same day, B-58 serial 59-2459 of the 43rd Bombardment Wing suffered a flight…
‘I Can’t Sleep Some Nights’: The US Air Force Can’t Build More F-22 Raptor Stealth Fighters and That Call Still Stings
Published: August 6, 2026 11:31
The F-22 was designed to defeat Soviet fighters, but the Soviet Union collapsed before production began. Cost growth, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and confidence in the F-35 reduced the buy to 187. A later Air Force study priced a 194-aircraft restart…
The US Navy Added 100 Feet to Seawolf-Class Nuclear Submarine USS Jimmy Carter and Has Never Said What’s Inside. It Is Now Spending $5.1 Billion to Build a Replacement.
Published: August 6, 2026 11:16
USS Jimmy Carter measures 453 feet against the 353 of her two Seawolf-class sisters. The difference is a 100-foot section inserted amidships during construction, the Multi-Mission Platform, and in twenty years the Navy has never publicly described what…
The US Navy Sank Aircraft Carrier USS Oriskany With 250 Pounds of C4 in 2006. She Sits Upright Off Pensacola With Her Flight Deck 145 Feet Down, and Divers Swim on It.
Published: August 6, 2026 00:30
On 17 May 2006, Navy divers detonated roughly 250 pounds of C4 placed throughout USS Oriskany and sank her off the coast of Pensacola, Florida — the first American warship deliberately sunk to become an artificial reef. She came to rest upright, her flight…
Germany Had a WWII Plan for a Super Battleship That Would Have Been 62,600 Tons and Bigger Than the US Navy Iowa-Class
Published: August 6, 2026 00:18
Germany laid down two H-39 battleships in 1939. Each was designed to displace roughly 62,600 tons, make 30 knots and carry eight 16-inch guns. The ships never reached the water because war forced Berlin to choose U-boats and immediate production over Plan…
‘Build Combat Readiness’: The US Air Force Just Sent F-22 Raptor Stealth Fighters to China’s Doorstep out at Kadena AFB
Published: August 5, 2026 20:11
"There is no substitute for a fifth-generation fighter," said retired Col. J.V. Venable of the Mitchell Institute. "It is a complete package of collection, computation power and the ability to disseminate that and then employ in a way that no other fighter…
USS Tarawa Was Named for the Bloodiest 76 Hours in Marine Corps History. She Was the Only US Navy Essex-Class Aircraft Carrier of 24 Never to See Combat.
Published: August 5, 2026 19:17
Marines lost almost as many dead in 76 hours at Tarawa in November 1943 as American forces lost across the six-month Guadalcanal campaign. The Navy commissioned a carrier bearing the name two years later, on 8 December 1945 — four months after the war…
US Navy Aircraft Carrier USS Valley Forge Won 17 Battle Stars Across Two Wars and Was Meant to Become a Museum. The Financing Fell Through and She Was Scrapped in 1971.
Published: August 5, 2026 18:39
When people think of American aircraft carriers, they usually think about one of the many nuclear-powered carriers that the Navy has built over the years. But the conventionally powered carriers, many of which served or were designed during the Second…
The US Navy Discloses New Details On ‘Plasma Test’ over the Pacific Ocean
Published: August 5, 2026 18:23
This was a dangerous test, as debris from the blast could have been spread to civilians on the ground. That is why the test launch was moved from Virginia to Wake Island.
Britain Spent Eight Years Repairing Destroyer HMS Daring. When the Work Was Finished She Still Could Not Sail, Because the Navy Was 190 Sailors Short.
Published: August 5, 2026 17:47
HMS Daring entered extended maintenance in 2017 and spent roughly eight years out of operational service while engineers cut open her hull and fitted three additional diesel generators. Finishing the work did not return her to the fleet. She still needed…
US Navy Aircraft Carrier USS Independence: 80,000 Tons, Bigger Than an Iowa-Class Battleship, and Sailed Into the Cuban Missile Crisis
Published: August 5, 2026 17:23
USS Independence aircraft carrier: Her long career was defined by constant deployments during the most heightened parts of the Cold War–like the Cuban Missile Crisis–the Vietnam War, the Middle East, and Desert Storm.
USS Coral Sea Was the First Carrier to Deploy the F/A-18 Hornet and the First to Fire a HARM Missile in Combat. Her Design Dated From 1943.
Published: August 5, 2026 15:23
USS Coral Sea was the first Navy vessel to deploy an air wing built around the F/A-18 Hornet, and the first to fire the AGM-88 High-Speed Anti-Radiation Missile in combat, during Operation El Dorado Canyon against Libya in 1986. Construction on her had…
US Navy Aircraft Carrier USS Saratoga Dropped 4,047,000 Pounds of Ordnance on Iraq and Transited the Suez Canal Six Times. Saddam Hussein Announced on Television That She Had Been Sunk.
Published: August 5, 2026 15:10
Operating from the Red Sea with CVW-17, Saratoga completed six transits of the Suez Canal and her air wing delivered 4,047,000 pounds of ordnance. Iraqi television announced she had been sunk. The one Scud missile fired in her general direction missed by…
US Navy Iowa-Class Battleship USS Illinois: 57,271 Tons, Bigger Than a Trump-Class Battleship, and Cancelled 22 Percent Completed
Published: August 5, 2026 14:44
Philadelphia began building USS Illinois in January 1945 as the fifth Iowa-class battleship. The all-welded, 45,000-ton design would have carried nine 16-inch guns, but Japan’s defeat and the Navy’s shift toward carriers ended construction at 22 percent…
Japan Took a 72,000 Ton Yamato-Class Battleship and Rebuilt It Into an Aircraft Carrier. The US Navy Sunk It with Four Torpedoes
Published: August 5, 2026 14:30
Shinano was commissioned on 19 November 1944 as the largest aircraft carrier ever built, displacing roughly 72,000 long tons on a converted Yamato-class hull. She sailed from Yokosuka on 28 November carrying 50 Ohka rocket-powered weapons and six Shinyo…
The US Military Is Running Out of Missiles. Iran Isn’t Running Out of Resolve
Published: August 5, 2026 14:16
Reports indicate that American short-range ballistic missile inventories have been nearly exhausted and Tomahawk stockpiles badly depleted during the war with Iran. Patriot interceptors alone can take more than two years to build. CSIS projects that…
Trump Should Offer Putin a Ukraine Armistice He Might Actually Accept — Not Because Russia Wants Peace, but to Find Out Whether It Will Stop.
Published: August 5, 2026 14:05
A peace settlement would have to resolve occupied territory, Ukraine's relationship with the West and sanctions, and neither government is close enough to the other for that. An armistice asks less: it stops organized fighting and leaves the political…
Navy Iowa-Class: 4 58,000 Ton Battleships, 36 Sixteen-Inch Guns, and Not One Shell Ever Fired at an Enemy Battleship (But The Best Ever)
Published: August 5, 2026 12:16
The four Iowa-class battleships cost roughly $100 million apiece, fought from World War II through Desert Storm, and were reactivated three separate times — finishing with Tomahawk missiles alongside 16-inch guns. The numbers behind the best-ever argument,…
‘We Made a Mistake That’s Not Fixable’: The US Navy’s 70,000 Ton Montana-Class Battleship ‘Mistake’ Still Stings
Published: August 5, 2026 11:03
Five Montana-class battleships were authorized in 1940: bigger than the Iowas, with twelve 16-inch guns and the only American armor designed to stop its own shells. Japan redesigned its next Yamatos in response. Suspended in May 1942 and canceled in July…
Ordinary Matter Is Just 5 Percent of the Universe. On 30 August NASA Launches a 300-Megapixel Telescope Built to Map the Other 95.
Published: August 4, 2026 23:58
Everything astronomers can see directly — stars, planets, gas, dust, people — accounts for about five percent of the universe. Roughly 27 percent is dark matter and 68 percent is dark energy. The Roman Space Telescope launches on 30 August 2026 to observe…
‘I Called Her the Missile Battleship’: US Navy Nuclear Cruiser USS Virginia Was Built for a Fight With the Soviet Navy
Published: August 4, 2026 23:24
USS Virginia entered the Navy's nuclear-ship recycling program at Puget Sound in 1999 and was taken apart. One piece of her survived: a 43,000-pound Mk 26 twin-arm launcher, half of the double-ended battery she was built around. It stands today at Norfolk…
The Drones Are Hitting Moscow: Ukraine Is Turning Russia Into One Big Target
Published: August 4, 2026 23:07
Ukraine on Tuesday executed a series of drone strikes on an industrial zone near Moscow, and across the whole country, strikes on three warehouses killed five people and wounded ten, CBS News reported, citing a regional governor. Two of the warehouses…
750 Horsepower: A US Army Officer Told US Why the M60A3 Tank Was Ready to Fight Russia
Published: August 4, 2026 22:50
Without the efficacy of the M60A3, there could never have been the Abrams. The M60A3 should go down as an important Cold War relic for the United States and NATO.
‘You Know She Was Retired Too Early’: Battleship USS Iowa Was 57,000 Tons, Fired Tomahawk Missiles, and Had 16-Inch Guns
Published: August 4, 2026 22:39
USS Iowa was commissioned on 22 February 1943, decommissioned in 1949, recommissioned for Korea in 1951, decommissioned again in 1958, recommissioned under the Reagan buildup in 1984 and paid off for the last time in October 1990. Across three commissioned…
B-2 Pilots Flew 36 Hours and 13,000 Miles From Missouri to Strike Iran. The Aircraft Has One Fold-Down Cot, and It Is Too Short for a Tall Pilot.
Published: August 4, 2026 20:08
B-2 crews flew 36 hours nonstop and more than 13,000 miles round trip from Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri to strike Iran's nuclear facilities during Operation Midnight Hammer. Behind the cockpit is a fold-down cot mounted to the bulkhead, usable by…
Germany Sank the Italian Battleship Roma With a Radio-Guided Bomb in September 1943. She Was Sailing to Surrender When It Hit Her.
Published: August 4, 2026 18:57
After Italy surrendered in September 1943, the surviving Littorio-class battleships were ordered to Malta to be interned. Luftwaffe aircraft attacked them en route with Fritz-X radio-guided bombs. Italia was damaged. Roma was hit, blew up and sank — the…
Boeing Built More Than 2,000 B-47 Stratojets in Ten Years. Not One of Them Ever Dropped a Bomb in Combat
Published: August 4, 2026 18:48
Boeing built more than 2,000 B-47 Stratojets between 1947 and 1957, and the type formed the backbone of Strategic Air Command through the 1950s. It carried the same bomb load as the propeller-driven B-29 more than 200 mph faster. It never dropped a bomb in…
The US Air Force Says the B-21 Raider and F-47 Are Both Ahead of Schedule. Its B-52 Upgrade Is Running $3 Billion Over Budget.
Published: August 4, 2026 18:25
General Dale White, director of Critical Major Weapon Systems, told an industry conference in Dayton on 3 August that both the B-21 Raider and the F-47 are running early or on schedule. The first B-21 should be on the ramp at Ellsworth Air Force Base in…
Japan’s 72,809 Ton Battleship Musashi: Bigger than an Iowa-Class Battleship, Aircraft Carriers, and Took 19 Torpedoes and 17 Bombs to Sink Her
Published: August 4, 2026 18:15
Japan’s battleship Musashi displaced more than 72,000 tons, carried nine 18.1-inch guns and protected its vital spaces with armor more than two feet thick. She never fought another battleship. American carrier aircraft struck her with an estimated 17 bombs…
On 5 August 2026 a Discarded SpaceX Upper Stage Hits the Moon at 5,400 MPH. It Weighs 8,800 Pounds and Will Land With the Force of Three Tons of TNT.
Published: August 4, 2026 17:07
The Falcon 9 upper stage that launched Firefly's Blue Ghost and ispace's Resilience in January 2025 had no propellant left for a disposal burn. Nineteen months of gravity and solar pressure made a lunar impact unavoidable. It weighs 8,800 pounds, measures…
Britain Built 136 Avro Vulcans to Drop Nuclear Bombs on the Soviet Union. They Flew One War, in 1982, With Conventional Bombs.
Published: August 4, 2026 16:56
Britain built 136 Avro Vulcans, the most numerous strategic bomber the RAF ever operated. Each was designed to carry a single free-fall nuclear weapon of up to 1.1 megatons above the reach of Soviet air defences. The type entered service in 1956 and saw…
US Navy Iowa-Class Battleship USS Kentucky: $55 Million Spent, She Was 72 Percent Complete and Used for ‘Parts’
Published: August 4, 2026 15:43
A contemporary account placed spending on USS Kentucky at $55 million before construction ended with the hull slightly more than 72 percent complete. The Navy struck her from the register on 9 June 1958. Boston Metals Company bought the remaining hull that…
Kosmos 482 Was Built to Survive 900°F and 90 Earth Atmospheres on Venus. It Never Left Earth Orbit — and 53 Years Later It Was Still Too Tough to Burn Up
Published: August 4, 2026 15:11
Kosmos 482 lifted off from Baikonur on 31 March 1972, bound for Venus as the sister craft to Venera 8. It reached parking orbit, then the upper-stage burn terminated early. Instead of escaping Earth's gravity, the descent capsule entered a highly…
The US Air Force Planned 381 F-22 Raptors and Built 187. It Now Has 183 — and Congress Just Banned Retiring Any of Them Until 2032.
Published: August 4, 2026 14:32
The Air Force originally planned 381 F-22 Raptors. Production ended at 187 after the 2009 cancellation, and attrition has since reduced the fleet to 183 or 184 depending on the count. On June 4 the House Armed Services Committee approved an amendment…
The US Air Force B-52 Radar Program Had Exactly Two Test Aircraft. A June 15 Crash Destroyed One at Edwards AFB and Killed All Eight People Aboard
Published: August 4, 2026 14:27
The B-52 Radar Modernization Program was structured around two test aircraft from the outset. On June 15 one of them crashed after departing Edwards Air Force Base in California, killing all eight people aboard. The Air Force will now resume radar testing…
41,000 Tons: New US Navy Trump-Class Battleship Is Smaller Than the Iowa-Class and More Expensive Than Ford-Class Nuclear Aircraft Carrier
Published: August 4, 2026 14:21
The Navy plans to buy USS Defiant in fiscal 2028 at a gross weapon-system cost of $17.47 billion. USS Gerald R. Ford, a 100,000-ton nuclear supercarrier, cost $13.3 billion in nominal dollars across two decades of appropriations. Defiant is a 41,000-ton…
US Navy Battleship USS Mississippi: 36,157 Tons and She Fought in the Last Battleship Battle Ever After Getting a ‘Ceasefire’ Order
Published: August 4, 2026 11:26
USS Mississippi entered service in 1917 as a 32,000-ton dreadnought armed with twelve 14-inch guns. She survived two turret disasters and two kamikaze strikes, fired the last major-caliber salvo at Surigao Strait, and spent her final decade helping the…
US Navy Battleship USS New York Was Built in Brooklyn: $14,000,000 Cost, 10 14-Inch Guns, 34,000 Tons, and Even Took a Nuclear Bomb Blast
Published: August 4, 2026 11:11
USS New York carried ten 14-inch guns, served with the Grand Fleet and at Iwo Jima, survived two atomic tests and sank as a target.
The B-36 Peacemaker Bomber Had a 10,000 Mile Range and Could Drop 86,000 Pound of Bombs on Target
Published: August 4, 2026 00:04
The B-36 was desperately needed as the Soviet Union was developing its own nuclear bombs. All that work to get the B-36 ready to take on Germany was bearing fruit after World War Two.
America Has a South China Sea Problem
https://www.19fortyfive.com/2026/08/america-has-a-south-china-sea-problem/
Published: August 3, 2026 23:52
On July 20, a China Coast Guard team in a small boat closed on Philippine sailors near Second Thomas Shoal and repeatedly struck one of them on the head with a wooden baton, leaving him injured and requiring his removal for medical treatment. Manila says…
US Patriot Interceptor Stocks Have Fallen From About 2,300 to Under 1,000, Analysts Estimate. Rebuilding Is Likely to Take Years.
Published: August 3, 2026 23:35
The United States has signed deals with Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman to boost Patriot and THAAD production, The Independent reported, after weeks of reporting that stockpile shortages were shaping military planning. The Center for Strategic and…
Electric Boat’s 27,000 Workers Are What Makes the US Navy’s Nuclear Submarine Force One Of A Kind
Published: August 3, 2026 23:22
General Dynamics Electric Boat received the largest award in its 127-year history on July 29, 2026: a $76.6 billion package that includes $42.1 billion for nine Virginia-class attack submarines, $29.5 billion for five Columbia-class ballistic-missile…
US Navy Iowa-Class Battleship USS Wisconsin: 57,000 Tons, 36 Sixteen-Inch Guns, and Not One Round Ever Fired at an Enemy Battleship.
Published: August 3, 2026 23:04
USS Wisconsin was built in Philadelphia in 1,177 days and launched on December 7, 1943, two years after Pearl Harbor. The Iowa-class battleship screened Halsey's carriers and shelled Japan, fired 977 rounds in Korea, and returned in 1988 with 32 Tomahawks…
US Navy Battleship USS Tennessee Survived Pearl Harbor Because USS West Virginia Was Moored Beside Her and Took the Torpedoes Hits
Published: August 3, 2026 22:41
USS Tennessee was moored inboard of USS West Virginia on December 7, 1941, and survived because her neighbor absorbed the torpedoes. Two armor-piercing bombs struck her turrets, fires from USS Arizona burned around her stern, five of her crew were killed,…
The B-52J Bomber Has a Problem: $3 Billion Over Budget as the B-21 Raider Preps for US Air Force Service
Published: August 3, 2026 19:41
The Air Force's $21 billion effort to modernize the B-52H into the B-52J is meant to keep the bomber flying into the 2050s. A GAO report issued July 31 found the two biggest pieces, the new engines and radar, have grown by roughly a third in cost and…
Ukraine Just Got Hit with Another Painful Loss: A Fourth F-16 Is Gone, and Only About Half the Promised Jets Have Even Arrived
Published: August 3, 2026 18:07
Steve Balestrieri reports Ukraine's Air Force confirmed the loss of a fourth F-16 after an in-flight emergency on a frontline mission — the pilot ejected safely. Kyiv has received only about half of the eighty to ninety jets pledged, and Belgium's entire…
Forget the US Air Force F-22, F-35 or F-47 NGAD: The Eurofighter Typhoon Is Stacking Billions of Dollars in Fighter Orders
Published: August 3, 2026 17:56
The Eurofighter Typhoon, developed by Airbus, BAE Systems, and Leonardo, was designed during the Cold War and is now expected to serve into the 2060s. So far, 89 orders have been placed for the new Tranche 5 variant — Germany first, followed by Spain,…
Japan Sank US Navy Battleship USS California at Pearl Harbor. In October 1944 She Opened Fire in History’s Last Battleship Battle.
Published: August 3, 2026 17:45
Built at Mare Island under a $12.75 million cost limit, USS California displaced 32,300 tons and fired an 18,000-pound broadside. Two torpedoes and a bomb sank her at Pearl Harbor, but a 25-month salvage and reconstruction returned the battleship to fight…
Newport News: The US Navy Has An Aircraft Carrier ‘Factory’ in Hampton Roads Building Nuclear Ford-Class Supercarriers
Published: August 3, 2026 16:04
HII's Newport News Shipbuilding, the only American yard that designs and builds nuclear-powered carriers, employs 26,000 shipbuilders on 550 acres along the James River and is working on John F. Kennedy, Enterprise, and Doris Miller at once. Kennedy was…
US Navy USS Alaska ‘Large Cruiser’: 111 Gun Barrels, a 10,260-Pound Broadside, and Not One Main-Battery Shot at an Enemy Warship
Published: August 3, 2026 15:54
USS Alaska and USS Guam cost $45,616,000 each, nearly twice the price of the heavy cruiser USS Baltimore, and each carried nine 12-inch guns behind a 111-barrel battery on an 808-foot hull. They were built to hunt Japanese super-cruisers that Tokyo…
Japan’s Navy Just Fired a Tomahawk Missile and China Isn’t Happy One Bit
Published: August 3, 2026 15:31
On July 29, 2026, Japan's Maritime Self-Defense Force conducted its first live-fire Tomahawk launch from the destroyer JS Chokai, a Kongo-class Aegis ship commissioned in 1998 and modified in the United States during 2025. Tokyo has procured 400 of the…
France Built the Mirage 2000 to Stop Soviet Aircraft. Four Decades Later It Is Intercepting Russian Missiles Over Ukraine.
Published: August 3, 2026 15:08
France introduced the Dassault Mirage 2000 in 1984 as an affordable delta-wing fighter meant to defend French airspace against Soviet aircraft. Fly-by-wire controls offset the delta's energy loss in sustained turns, and decades of upgrades added a glass…
Japan Sank US Navy Battleship USS West Virginia at Pearl Harbor. In October 1944 She Opened Fire in History’s Last Battleship Battle.
Published: August 3, 2026 14:07
USS West Virginia was the last completed Colorado-class battleship, armed with eight 16-inch guns and driven by turbo-electric propulsion. Sunk at Pearl Harbor, she returned after a radical reconstruction and fired 93 heavy shells in history’s last…
Two US Navy Battleships Collided: Puget Sound Built USS Washington a New Bow in Under Three Months and She Was Back Shielding Aircraft Carriers
Published: August 3, 2026 13:31
In the pre-dawn darkness of February 1, 1944, USS Indiana changed course without telling the rest of its formation and crossed USS Washington’s bow. The collision killed 10 sailors, wrecked Washington’s forward hull and sent both modern battleships to…
US Navy Battleship USS Indiana: 44,159 Tons, 9 16-Inch Guns and the Ultimate Aircraft Carrier ‘Shield’ Against Imperial Japan
Published: August 3, 2026 11:44
USS Indiana packed nine 16-inch guns and 130,000 shaft horsepower into a compact 680-foot hull. She earned nine World War II battle stars without fighting an enemy battleship, then spent nearly 15 years in reserve before being sold for scrap in 1963.
US Navy Battleship USS Nevada: 27,500 Tons, 583 Feet Long, and Could Fire a 15,000 Pound Broadside at Any Battleship (Built in Quincy, Massachusetts)
Published: August 3, 2026 11:31
USS Nevada’s $5.895 million contract produced a ten-gun battleship that survived Pearl Harbor, served 30 years and endured two atomic tests.
US Navy Battleship USS Idaho: 36,157 Tons, 12 14-Inch Guns and Came Close to Fighting the Biggest Battleship Ever Built
Published: August 3, 2026 00:44
USS Idaho entered service in 1919 with twelve 14-inch guns and a 32,000-ton displacement. A major rebuild pushed her above 36,000 tons before she earned seven battle stars from Attu to Okinawa, where she stood ready for a battleship duel that carrier…
US Navy Battleship USS Pennsylvania: 34,000 Horsepower, 12 14-Inch Guns, and She Survived Pearl Harbor and Two Nuclear Bombs
Published: August 3, 2026 00:24
USS Pennsylvania entered service with twelve 14-inch guns, 34,000 horsepower and a completed cost near $15 million. The battleship served through two world wars, survived Pearl Harbor and a late-war torpedo strike, then endured both Operation Crossroads…
Forget the B-21 or B-52: The ‘Super’ B-1B Lancer Bomber Is Being Designed to Possibly Attack with Hypersonic Missiles
Published: August 3, 2026 00:02
Built for low-altitude nuclear attack, the B-1B became a precision bomber, close-air-support platform and long-range anti-ship missile carrier. New external pylons, digital cockpit systems and structural repairs are preparing the 40-year-old Lancer for…
The ‘Boneyard’ Outside of Tucson, Arizona is a US Air Force Graveyard: Some Old Bombers Like the B-1B Lancer Get ‘Reborn’
Published: August 2, 2026 23:19
The military aircraft boneyard outside Tucson, officially the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group, covers 2,600 acres and normally holds about 3,200 aircraft, 6,100 engines, and nearly 300,000 items of specialized tooling. Arizona's dry air…
USS Washington Fired 75 Sixteen-Inch Shells at Another Battleship From Under Five Miles. Not One Japanese Shell Hit Her Hull
Published: August 2, 2026 15:06
USS Washington opened fire on the Japanese battleship Kirishima from 8,400 yards during the night of November 14–15, 1942, close enough for radar-directed 16-inch guns to tear through armor designed for far longer ranges. The American battleship fired 75…
Last Battleship Ever Built (Not in the US Navy): HMS Vanguard Hit 51,000 Tons, Was Bigger Than Some Aircraft Carriers, and Never Attacked Another Battleship
Published: August 2, 2026 14:06
Britain spent £11,530,503 building HMS Vanguard, a figure that excluded her main guns, whose mountings had been built for the World War I battlecruisers Courageous and Glorious. The Royal Navy's last battleship, and the last launched anywhere in the world,…
The US Navy Almost Built a 62,500-Ton ‘Medium’ Aircraft Carrier. The Nimitz-Class Nuclear Carrier Made Sure She Never Sailed
Published: August 2, 2026 13:45
The 1978 CVV medium carrier displaced 62,500 tons and was meant to carry as many as 65 aircraft. The Carter administration asked $1.6 billion for it in fiscal 1980; Congress paid $2.1 billion for a fourth Nimitz-class ship instead. The CVV never received a…
Russia Wanted 150 Su-57 Felons Stealth Fighters. Sixteen Years Later, It Has Only a Few Dozen
Published: August 2, 2026 12:41
Russia expected the Su-57 Felon to anchor a large fifth-generation air force and later ordered 76 by 2028. Sixteen years after the prototype flew, open estimates place the serial fleet at roughly 30. Budget cuts, technical delays, India’s withdrawal,…
US Navy Aircraft Carrier USS United States: 82,000 Tons, Bigger Than An Iowa-Class Battleship, and Cancelled 5 Days After Building Began
Published: August 2, 2026 12:21
USS United States was designed to launch nuclear-capable bombers from a 82,000-ton flush-deck carrier. Defense Secretary Louis Johnson canceled the $189 million ship five days after keel-laying, prompting John Sullivan’s resignation and the congressional…
US Navy Aircraft Carrier USS Saratoga: 81,101 Tons, Bigger Than An Iowa-Class Battleship, and Her Flight Deck was Three Football Fields
Published: August 2, 2026 11:40
USS Saratoga cost $209.7 million, displaced 81,101 tons and carried up to 100 aircraft before fighting in Vietnam and Desert Storm.
US Navy Battleship USS Alabama Sits in Mobile: 45,000 Tons, Big As An Aircraft Carrier, and Never Fired at Another Battleship
Published: August 2, 2026 11:27
USS Alabama cost about $80 million, displaced roughly 45,000 tons, carried nine 16-inch guns and earned nine World War II battle stars.
US Navy Battleship USS Texas Will Soon Be In Galveston: 34,000 Tons, 10 14-Inch Guns and She Fought in WWI and WWII
Published: August 2, 2026 02:09
USS Texas entered service in 1914 with ten 14-inch guns, 28,100 horsepower and a 27,000-ton displacement. After fighting in both world wars and spending 74 years as a museum, the last surviving dreadnought is undergoing a $75 million rescue before…
US Navy Iowa-Class Battleship USS Missouri: 58,000 Tons, 212,000 Horsepower, 9 16-Inch Guns and She Even Had Tomahawk Missiles
Published: August 2, 2026 01:58
USS Missouri combined 58,000 tons, 212,000 shaft horsepower and nine 16-inch guns with combat service in World War II, Korea and Desert Storm. A 1980s rebuild added 32 Tomahawks, 16 Harpoons and four Phalanx systems before the battleship became a museum at…
US Navy Aircraft Carrier USS Midway: 60,000 Tons, As Big As An Iowa-Class Battleship, and the Largest Warship on Earth When Built
Published: August 1, 2026 14:55
USS Midway entered service with 18 five-inch guns, room for 120 aircraft and a 3.5-inch armored flight deck. Four steam turbines produced 212,000 shaft horsepower, while later rebuilds expanded the deck to four acres and kept the carrier flying through…
Pride of Sioux Falls: US Navy Battleship USS South Dakota was 44,000 Tons, Hit 28 Knots and Travelled 246,970 Miles During WWII
Published: August 1, 2026 14:21
Built for $52.8 million, USS South Dakota displaced 44,519 tons at full load and fired a 24,300-pound armor-piercing broadside. “Battleship X” survived Santa Cruz and Guadalcanal, screened carriers across the Pacific, bombarded Japan and finished the war…
US Air Force Lockheed Martin F-35 vs. China’s J-20 Stealth Fighter: Which Is Better? The Answer Isn’t So Clear Anymore
Published: August 1, 2026 13:54
While everyone knows about the iconic F-22 Raptor and the ubiquitous F-35 Lightning II, China’s Chengdu J-20 (as well as their J-35) fifth-generation warplane is a real challenger to the American F-22 as well as the F-35.
US Navy North Carolina: 44,000 Tons, 9 Sixteen-Inch Guns, and Not One Shell Ever Fired at an Enemy Battleship in Anger
Published: August 1, 2026 12:26
USS North Carolina combined 44,800 tons, 121,000 horsepower and nine 16-inch guns in one treaty-era battleship. She survived a Japanese torpedo, earned 15 battle stars and escaped the scrapyard through a statewide campaign that brought her to Wilmington as…
US Navy Battleship USS Massachusetts: 44,000 Tons, 130,000 Horsepower, and 9 16-Inch Guns All for a Cheap $80 Million
Published: August 1, 2026 11:56
USS Massachusetts cost about $80 million, displaced 44,519 tons at full combat load and carried nine 16-inch guns able to throw a 24,300-pound armor-piercing broadside. The South Dakota-class battleship fought at Casablanca, screened Pacific carriers,…
USS Gerald R. Ford Is the Pride of Norfolk: Two Nuclear Reactors, 5 Acre Flight Deck, 75 Aircraft , Unlimited Range. No Navy on Earth Has an Aircraft Carrier Like It
Published: August 1, 2026 11:39
USS Gerald R. Ford is a 100,000-ton nuclear-powered air base with a roughly five-acre flight deck, room for about 75 aircraft and 11 weapons elevators. Two reactors remove routine propulsion-fuel stops, while four electromagnetic catapults move aircraft…
Russia’s Tu-22M3 Backfire Bomber: Mach 2 Speed, Hypersonic Weapons and 124 Tons of Raw Power for the Ukraine War
Published: August 1, 2026 11:24
The Tu-22M3M is a deep rebuild of Russia’s Soviet Tu-22M3, adding digital avionics, navigation, electronic warfare and modern missile compatibility. Its 24-ton payload supports three Kh-32-class weapons or a reported four Kinzhals, yet Russia has not…
F-20 Tigershark Fighter: She Could Hit Mach 2, Carry 9,000 Pounds of Weapons, and Was Dirt Cheap — the F-16 Made Sure She Had No Chance
Published: August 1, 2026 11:08
Northrop built the F-20 Tigershark as a fast, affordable export fighter with Mach 2 speed, seven hardpoints and more than 9,000 pounds of carrying capacity. The aircraft worked. The market did not. A policy shift, the F-16 and no U.S. launch customer ended…
The US Navy F-14D Tomcat Fighter: She Could Hit Mach 2 and Defend Aircraft Carriers But Had to Be Retired
Published: August 1, 2026 10:39
The F-14D left the Navy while it was still fighting — a final combat sortie over Iraq in February 2006, the retirement ceremony seven months later. NAVAIR itself said the Tomcat was leaving at the top of her game, and the D-model was the aircraft Grumman…
Forget China’s J-20 or J-35A: The US Air Force’s New F-47 NGAD Fighter Is Coming Soon
Published: August 1, 2026 00:02
The F-47 now has a date. Gen. Dale White said on July 29 that the fighter entered development with unprecedented maturity and would fly before January 2029, and Defense News reported the next day that test aircraft are in production for a planned 2028…
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