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19FortyFive: A place where experts analyze defense, national security, foreign policy, and politics. We welcome all viewpoints and ideas.
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News
The A-10 Warthog Was Designed to Destroy Soviet Tanks in the Fulda Gap With a 30mm GAU-8 Cannon. In the Iran War It Used That Same Gun Against Drones and Missiles Over the Gulf, and in April 2026 the Air Force Reversed Its Early Phase-Out and Kept 3 Squadrons Until 2030.
6+ hour, 23+ min ago (1103+ words) The Air Force has wanted this aircraft dead for over a decade. Then it spent a war shooting down drones with a gun built in the 1970s to kill armor. When the Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II (the “Warthog”) first took to…...
"It Can't Fire a Gun and Doesn't Carry a Bomb." That Was the Air Force Chief of Staff on the SR-71 Blackbird, an Aircraft With 17,300 Sorties and Zero Losses to Enemy Fire.
6+ hour, 24+ min ago (1683+ words) Across its life the SR-71 Blackbird program flew 53,490 hours over 17,300 sorties, including 11,675 hours above Mach 3 — a record of production no other reconnaissance aircraft has approached. The airframe never lost a mission, never lost an aircraft to hostile fire, and still…...
The Pentagon Cut the B-2 Bomber Program From $75,400,000,000 to $61,100,000,000 and Made Every Aircraft More Expensive. Cutting the Order From 132 to 21 Nearly Quadrupled the Cost per Bomber.
6+ hour, 58+ min ago (846+ words) What the money bought when it came to the B-2 Spirit stealth bomber: Four General Electric F118s at 17,300 pounds of thrust each, a 172-foot wingspan, 336,500 pounds maximum takeoff weight, 167,000 pounds of fuel and 60,000 pounds of payload, 6,000 nautical miles without a tanker, above…...
A Boeing KC-46 Pegasus Boom Jammed in the Receptacle of an F-22 Raptor 100 Miles Off Virginia on July 8, 2025, Struck the Tanker After the Aircraft Separated, and Broke Off Into the Atlantic. The Air Force Put the Damage at $9,980,000.
17+ hour, 56+ min ago (684+ words) On May 12 the Air Force and Boeing announced a readiness plan with an unusual first item: five early-production KC-46s that were not due in operational service until 2031 will instead be broken up for spare parts and test support. The Air…...
The F-111B Was Supposed to Be a US Navy Aircraft Carrier Fighter. It Exceeded 80,000 Pounds, Needed a Wingspan 7 Feet Wider Than the Air Force Version Just to Slow Down Enough to Land, and the Navy Walked Away in May 1968.
1+ day, 5+ hour ago (485+ words) McNamara ordered the Air Force and Navy to buy the same aircraft to save money. The two services needed opposite things, and the compromise could not land on a US Navy aircraft carrier. That's why the F-111B failed....
Japan's Mach 2.5 F-15J Fighter Won't Ever Fly for the US Air Force As It Was Custom Built for Tokyo
1+ day, 17+ hour ago (497+ words) Japan is the largest F-15 operator on earth outside the US Air Force, and has been for forty years. The rebuild costs more than most countries spend on new fighters. The F-15J is a real powerhouse....
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.
3+ day, 6+ hour ago (498+ words) The B-2 cost $2,000,000,000 a copy because only 21 were built. The B-21 was designed from the start to avoid that, with cost written in as a performance requirement....
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.
3+ day, 10+ hour ago (548+ words) Japan put $1,270,000,000 into GCAP this year, Italy €8,800,000,000 and Britain £8,600,000,000 over 4 years. The F-35 they are competing with has cost about $412,000,000,000....
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.
3+ day, 12+ hour ago (537+ words) The SR-71 flew 11,675 hours above Mach 3 across the program. By 1990 the 12-aircraft fleet cost about $260,000,000 a year, and the Air Force said that money could run 2 fighter wings....
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.
3+ day, 12+ hour ago (598+ words) The F-117 Nighthawk was retired in 2008. It is still flying, and the Air Force says it will keep flying until 2034 — longer in retirement than most aircraft serve....