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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
"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.
7+ hour, 14+ 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.
7+ hour, 47+ 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…...
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, 6+ 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....
The US Air Force F-22 Raptor Stealth Fighter Holds Speeds Above Mach 1.5 Without Ever Lighting an Afterburner. Its 2 Pratt & Whitney F119-PW-100 Engines Make About 35,000 Pounds of Thrust Each, and the Fleet Just Passed 1,000,000 Flight Hours on an Engine Last Built in 2013.
1+ day, 6+ hour ago (428+ words) Most fighters go supersonic by dumping raw fuel into the exhaust stream and emptying their tanks in minutes. The F-22 does it on dry thrust and stays there....
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, 18+ 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, 7+ 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....
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, 13+ 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, 13+ 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....
The US Air Force Capped F-22 Raptor Production at 187 Aircraft at About $143,000,000 Each. In November 2009 a French Rafale Costing About 64,000,000 Euros Got Behind 1 and Took the Shot.
3+ day, 13+ hour ago (888+ words) America’s F-22 Raptor is one of the most advanced warplanes in the world. A fifth-generation air superiority fighter with advanced stealth and maneuvering capabilities, this plane was meant to strike an enemy fighter before it even knew the F-22 was…...
Northrop Spent More Than $750,000,000 of Its Own Money on the F-20 Tigershark Without a Dollar of Pentagon Funding. It Sold 0 Aircraft and Wrote Off About $1,200,000,000.
3+ day, 16+ hour ago (595+ words) Northrop built the F-20 Tigershark entirely with its own money. It out-turned the F-16, needed half the maintenance, cost less — and not one air force on earth bought it....