May 9, 2026

Web and Tech

Why is TikTok Not Banned, Asks One FCC Commissioner

FCC COMMISSIONER CALLS FOR TIKTOK BAN – One of the five FCC Commissioners, Brendan Carr, publicly called for a ban of the Chinese Communist Party owned app, TikTok.  He said, there is not “a world in which you could come up with sufficient protection on the data that you could have sufficient confidence that it’s not finding its way back into the hands of the [Chinese Communist Party].”

NEWSWATCH BLURB:

FCC commissioner says US should ban TikTok: Report – Deltaplex News news.google.com
Excerpt:

A commissioner at the Federal Communications Commission on Tuesday called on the U.S. government to ban social media platform TikTok over concerns about how the China-owned app handles the data of American users.

The remarks, made in an interview with Axios, come as the fast-growing app holds ongoing negotiations with the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, or CFIUS, about whether it can continue business in the U.S. if it is sold from Chinese parent company ByteDance to an American company.

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The Elon Era of Twitter Has Begun

ELON MUSK FIRES TOP EXECS AS HE TAKES CONTROL OF TWITTER–  Tesla CEO Elon Musk is officially the CEO of Twitter.  The deal was finalized with the firing of its CEO and Morality Police Safety Officer.  He followed up the firing with a tweet saying, “spoiler alert.”

NEWSWATCH BLURB:

Elon Musk finally owns Twitter. What next? Get the latest news.google.com
Excerpt:

Elon Musk has taken control of Twitter and ousted the CEO, chief financial officer and the company’s general counsel, two people familiar with the deal said Thursday night.

The people wouldn’t say if all the paperwork for the deal, originally valued at $44 billion, had been signed or if the deal has closed. But they said Musk is in charge of the social media platform and has fired CEO Parag Agrawal, CFO Ned Segal and General Counsel Vijaya Gadde. Neither person wanted to be identified because of the sensitive nature of the personnel moves.

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NEWSWATCH BLURB:

Elon Musk officially takes over Twitter after closing US$44-billion deal: reports – National globalnews.ca
Excerpt:

Billionaire Elon Musk is now officially in charge of Twitter and has fired several top executives after closing his US$44-billion deal to buy the social media company on Thursday, according to multiple reports.

The Associated Press, Reuters and the Washington Post all reported the news of Musk’s takeover, citing anonymous sources who were familiar with the move.

CEO Parag Agrawal, chief financial officer Ned Segal and legal policy chief Vijaya Gadde were escorted out of Twitter’s headquarters in San Francisco after the deal was completed, the reports said.

Read more:

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NEWSWATCH BLURB:

Musk fires top Twitter executives after closing $44bn deal www.moneyweb.co.za
Excerpt:

Elon Musk completed his $44 billion acquisition of Twitter Inc., according to people familiar with the matter, putting the world’s richest man in charge of the struggling social network after six months of public and legal wrangling over the deal.

Among Musk’s first moves: changing the leadership. Departures include Twitter Chief Executive Officer Parag Agrawal; Vijaya Gadde, the head of legal, policy and trust; Chief Financial Officer Ned Segal, who joined Twitter in 2017; and Sean Edgett, who has been general counsel at Twitter since 2012, according to people familiar with the matter. Edgett was escorted out of the building, said two of the people, who asked not to be identified because the information isn’t public.

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NEWSWATCH BLURB:

Elon Musk Takes Over Twitter, Fires CEO Parag Agrawal and ‘Trust and Safety’ Censorship Queen Vijaya Gadde www.breitbart.com
Excerpt:

Elon Musk officially became Twitter’s owner late on Thursday as his $44 billion deal to take over the firm closed. Musk promptly fired top executives at the company, including CEO Parag Agrawal, CEO Ned Segal, and Vijaya Gadde, the “trust and safety” lead notorious for her fanatical left-wing censorship campaign.

The Washington Post reports that on Thursday, Elon Musk arrived at Twitter offices to officially confirm his company takeover after the $44 billion purchase deal closed. Musk had previously stated plans to cut Twitter’s staff of approximately 7,500 employees to just over 2,000.

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NEWSWATCH BLURB:

Elon Musk Teases ‘Spoiler Alert’ After Cleaning House at Twitter www.dailysignal.com
Excerpt:

Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter became final Friday, and the new boss has already implemented some major changes — and teased a few more.

Musk fired several Twitter executives, ousting both the recent CEO and the woman who was reportedly responsible for the permanent ban on President Donald Trump.

The new boss ousted chief executive officer Parag Agrawal, chief financial officer Ned Segal, top legal and policy executive Vijaya Gadde, and general counsel Sean Edgett, The Wall Street Journal reported.

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NEWSWATCH BLURB:

Elon Musk Owns Twitter, Fires Executives, as the Left Acts Like the World is Ending legalinsurrection.com
Excerpt:

 

Elon Musk owns Twitter.

He supposedly already ousted CEO Parag Agrawal, CFO Ned Segal, and Head of Legal Policy, Trust Safety Vijaya Gadde

Conservatives celebrated. Liberals ranted.

I’m not excited about Musk taking over because he’s not a friend to conservatives or liberals. Just remember that. Despite what he says, Musk is in it for himself. He loves to make money, like everyone else, so don’t be shocked if he sells in a few years.

 

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NEWSWATCH BLURB:

The Crying Begins After Elon Musk Drops the Hammer at Twitter – RedState redstate.com
Excerpt:

On Thursday, Elon Musk finally closed his deal to buy Twitter after months of twists and turns. The deal seemed as if it was dead just a few months prior, but here we sit, with one of the world’s largest (and most politically active) social media platforms now in the hands of a free-speech absolutist.

Musk wasted no time before dropping the hammer. He walked into the company’s San Franciso-based headquarters and started firing all the partisan hacks who had done their best to quash speech over the last several years. Perhaps the most satisfying firing was of Vijaya Gadde, who made the decision to censor the Hunter Biden story just prior to the 2020 election.

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NEWSWATCH BLURB:

Twitter’s Top Executives Set To Exit With $100 Million Payout As Elon Musk Takes Over www.ndtv.com
Excerpt:

Three of Twitter Inc.’s top executives who were said to be fired after Elon Musk completed his takeover are poised to collect more than $100 million in severance and payouts of previously granted equity awards.

Chief Executive Officer Parag Agrawal, who stepped into the role less than a year ago, is eligible to receive roughly $50 million, according to calculations by Bloomberg News. Chief Financial Officer Ned Segal and Vijaya Gadde, head of legal, policy and trust, are in line for about $37 million and $17 million each, respectively.

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NEWSWATCH BLURB:

Elon Musk rules Twitter and leftists are upset. www.louderwithcrowder.com
Excerpt:

….Musk’s first order of business was to fire all the executives. Most notably, Twitter’s top lawyer, executive, and speech cop Vagina Goode. I don’t feel like looking up how to spell her real name, so I’m going with what Alex Jones calls her. You know who I’m talking about. Vagina was the one behind kicking people who had opposing viewpoints off of the platform. Now, she gone.

The question now is what leftists upset that the bird app will allow differing opinions are going to do now. Demoted tech jounalismer Taylor Lorenz, who will need to find other ways to deplatform people to help her stay young, set the stage.

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NEWSWATCH BLURB:

Donald Trump says Twitter is ‘in sane hands’ now that Elon Musk owns it www.businessinsider.co.za
Excerpt:

Former President Donald Trump said Twitter is “in sane hands” now that Elon Musk has officially purchased the social media platform.

“I am very happy that Twitter is now in sane hands, and will no longer be run by Radical Left Lunatics and Maniacs that truly hate our country,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Friday morning. “Twitter must now work hard to rid itself of all of the bots and fake accounts that have hurt it so badly. It will be much smaller, but better.”

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Did the DNC Make Social Media Censorship Decisions?

LAWSUIT EXPOSES DNC-BIG TECH COLLUSION IN CENSORING COVID-19 INFORMATION- A major lawsuit called Missouri v Biden has exposed 67 officials and agencies that have allegedly participated in working with Facebook, Twitter, and Google to assure the DNC take on Covid-19 and Hunter Biden laptops was enforced by censoring everything that defied it as “misinformation.”

“We allege that top-ranking Biden administration officials colluded with those social media companies to suppress speech about the Hunter Biden laptop story, the origins of COVID-19, the efficacy of masks, and election integrity.” Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt

NEWSWATCH BLURB:

Lawsuit reveals vast censorship scheme by Big Tech and the federal government news.google.com
Excerpt:

A little noticed federal lawsuit, Missouri v. Biden, is uncovering astonishing evidence of an entrenched censorship scheme cooked up between the federal government and Big Tech that would make Communist China proud.

So far, 67 officials or agencies — including the FBI — have been accused in the lawsuit of violating the First Amendment by pressuring Facebook, Twitter and Google to censor users for alleged misinformation or disinformation.

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Will Biden Protect Twitter from Elon?

BIDEN MIGHT MOVE TO QUASH TWITTER DEAL – After Elon Musk recently cut against the administration’s foreign policy position on the Ukraine War, Bloomberg reports that insiders have exposed plans by the administration to use the cover of “national security” to prevent Elon Musk from purchasing Twitter.  So far, the administration is not commenting publicly.

Biden admin considers reviews of Elon Musk’s Twitter deal, Starlink — report – Fox Business

Excerpt:

The Biden administration is reportedly mulling launching national security reviews scrutinizing some of Elon Musk’s business ventures, including his Starlink internet service and pending $54.20 per share buyout of Twitter. The news dragged down shares of the social media company.

Sources told Bloomberg that U.S. officials are concerned about the billionaire’s behavior in the wake of his recent tweets about pulling the plug on Starlink funding in Ukraine, the country’s conflict with Russia and his plans to acquire the social media giant with a group of foreign investors.

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The Immortal Type 63

 

 



 

No matter how you consume your news, whether from the “mainstream” or from more “alternative” sources, recent months have been all abuzz about the “mighty HIMARS“; and the HIMARS is, indeed, a very capable system…for those who either have friends, or who can afford it. But — what about us? What about the “poor’s“? Every weapon has a development cycle, and HIMARS is no exception. In this article, we will take a (very) brief look at the history of rocket artillery, and a singular weapon that is everything the HIMARS is not: cheap, simple, flexible, and readily available for anyone or any group with even a modest mount of cash.

 

Rocket artillery is far from ‘new.’ In fact, rockets were arguably the first practical use for gunpowder when it was invented in China, in the 9th Century AD. As gunpowder migrated westward, however, the idea of rocketry largely disappeared, until the late 18th-early 19th century, when rocketry began to reappear, most famously in the form of the Congreve Rocket. These early attempts were wildly unreliable, including having a nasty habit of exploding on their own, or returning to their owners in the most unpleasant of manners. Thus, it should not be surprising that rockets mostly disappeared from European-style warfare after about 1850 or so.

 

Fireships firing rockets and details of storage and launch. Colonel Congreve, 1814. Public Domain.

 

As a result, it would take until World War 2 to resurrect rocket artillery in a meaningful way, with the German introduction of the “Nebelwerfer” (or, ‘smoke mortar’) multiple rocket launcher (MRL) system. The system fired a variety of rockets, normally 5 – 7 at a time, depending on their exact size and weight. While initially intended to deliver chemical weapons, the distaste – and fear – from all sides outside of Asia about using such weapons caused the Germans to quickly develop high-explosive rounds for the various calibers. These were used to devastating effect by the Germans, initially…not so much for their raw destructive power, but for their terrifying psychological effects on troops who had never imagined the sound the rockets produced.

 

Nebelwerfer crew in action, Soviet Union, 1944. German Federal Archives.

All of the major Allies quickly copied the concept, and by the end of the war, were deploying far larger and more capable designs. However, the love affair with short-range multiple rocket systems wouldn’t last. By the mid-1950’s, most “First World” nations had largely begun to abandon the battlefield MRL; the notable exception was the Soviet Army and it’s subject armies, who maintained the devastating BM-21 ‘Grad’ into the present day. The reason for this abandonment of MRL’s was that, despite the MRL’s decided advantages (they were cheap and lightweight, compared conventional artillery, and were capable of firing truly impressive amounts of rounds in a time far shorter than regular artillery when grouped into batteries), they had significant disadvantages: their range tended to be shorter; they took far longer to reload; they were nearly impossible to use in “direct fire”, a feature of conventional artillery; and their rockets’ velocity was far too low to actually penetrate dug-in shelters or tank armor.

 

Nebelwerfer crew moving into action, France, 1944. German Federal Archives.

The reason the Soviet Bloc hung on the BM-21, was that while it had all of the disadvantages cited above, it had a very powerful warhead, a long range, was simple and easy to maintain, and was far cheaper and easier to build than conventional artillery. The Soviets accepted the downsides of the MRL idea, and found a way to incorporate it into their artillery fighting doctrine.

 

BM-21 Grad on display at the Karen Demirchyan Complex, Armenia. CCA/4.0

And then – The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) came looking for weapons.

The Chinese Communists, following their disastrous – if effective – intervention in the Korean War (1950-1953), had a terribly disorganized arsenal. As China had spent the previous fifty years alternating between civil wars and hellish foreign invasions (WW2 actually begins in 1937, in China, instead of Poland in 1939), the PLA was stuck with a hodge-podge of weapons from at least six or more sources, they were badly in need of a complete rearmament strategy, literally from the top, down.

The immediate problems for the CCP was that their manufacturing base had to be completely rebuilt – which, being fair, was a problem for most of the active participants of the war, although Mao Tse Tung’s “Great Leap Forward” almost destroyed the country wholesale – but, more cripplingly, they had very little money to buy foreign equipment. Unable to pay even the Soviet Union for enough field artillery, the PLA went looking for an alternative.

And, in 1963, they created one of the most important, but least-known, pieces of artillery in modern history: the 107mm Type-63 MRL.

 

Type-63 107mm MRL. 2016. CCA/4.0

A 12-shot launcher mounted on a 2-wheeled trailer, the system weighed in at about 1,300lbs/602kg, and only needed a crew of five. It was capable of firing a wide variety of ammunition (albeit limited to HE-types, as well as incendiary and smoke rounds) to (initially) c.5mi/8km; ranges were quickly improved. Some models could be broken into 2-tube loads for transport through rough terrain, by either people or mules. Eventually, a variety of single-tube launchers were developed for the rocket ammunition. The PLA realized that they had a good thing, and eventually equipped each infantry division with 18 units.

It was also quickly realized that the unit’s light weight made it easy to mount on small vehicles, giving the launcher the ability to quickly fire its rockets, and quickly relocate to avoid counter-battery fires.

 

IRGC Ground Force Commandos loading a Type-63 type MRL. 2017. CCA/4.0

As word got around, and the units began to be used by Communist guerrillas and regular armies, the system became a source of hard currency through exports and licensing; at least seven countries would eventually obtain legal production licenses for both the launchers and their ammunition.

Naturally, the advantages of the Type-63 became apparent to every rebel, guerrilla and terrorist group in the world, and those entities quickly began competing with small armies to buy, steal or beg units on both the legal and black markets.

The Type-63 has proved itself to be a significant game-changer in “low intensity conflicts” because it allows small forces operating on a shoe-string budget to seriously threaten adversaries who cannot afford the advanced systems, like battlefield radars or C-RAM  (which are fantastic to have, if you can afford or get them, somehow), to counter the fast-moving artillery. As a result, lightweight, highly mobile “technical” units can add a significant punch to their operations.

While susceptible to well (and expensively) equipped Western armies, the Type-63 remains a significant threat to anyone without powerful “friends” willing to commit to their aid.

The Type-63 has been reshaping battles for nearly 65 years, at this writing. There seems to be no end in sight for this venerable weapon…not least, because it is now being deployed on high-speed inshore craft…Newer may often be better, but old weapons will still harm you.

 

PayPal Claims Fining Users for Spreading Misinformation Was “Error”

AFTER THREATENING TO STEAL MONEY FROM CUSTOMERS WHO SHARE “MISINFORMATION,” PAYPAL CLAIMS IT WAS ALL A MISUNDERSTANDINGPayPal made a bold assertion that it had a right to fine its customers for spreading misinformation when it changed its policy to reflect that assertion.  After losing stock value and customers, the seditionist corporation is now feigning ignorance, claiming it never intended to do what it claimed it would actually do.

NEWSWATCH BLURB:

PayPal Says It Never Intended to Fine Users for ‘Misinformation’ finance.yahoo.com
Excerpt:

 

(Bloomberg) — PayPal Holdings Inc. said it has no intention of fining customers for spreading misinformation, after attracting criticism for publishing a new user agreement outlining such a plan.

The issue gained traction over the weekend after the company published policy updates prohibiting users from using the PayPal service for activities identified by the company as “the sending, posting, or publication of any messages, content, or materials” promoting misinformation, in an Acceptable Use Policy due to kick in on Nov. 3. A penalty of $2,500 could be imposed for each violation, according to the update.

The notice included “incorrect information,” a spokesperson for PayPal said in a statement to Bloomberg News. “PayPal is not fining people for misinformation and this language was never intended to be inserted in our policy.”

Shares of the company tumbled as much as 5.3% to $85.43, the biggest intraday decline since July 26. They dropped 4.7% to $85.90 at 9:48 a.m. in…

 

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Biden Admin to Limit AI, Supercomputing Tech-Sharing with China

The Biden administration has made a general sweeping claim they will be moving to change the rules on what types of AI and Supercomputing technology can be shared with China.  The specifics of the plans were not forthcoming and some skeptics doubt real follow-up will ever happen.

NEWSWATCH BLURB:

U.S. Said to Plan New Limits on China’s A.I. and Supercomputing Firms www.nytimes.com
Excerpt:

The new rules could be the most sweeping action taken yet by the Biden administration to thwart China’s access to American technology that powers data centers and supercomputers.

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Product Analysis: The HP-35 – The “Other” Browning Pistol

 

It has long been acknowledged that John Browning is one of – if not the – greatest American firearms designer of all time. Indeed, his Winchester 1894 – the venerable “.30-30” – with over six million units produced, is the most numerous sporting rifle ever made. Browning’s designs have lasted well over one hundred years; in fact, variations of his M1911A1 pistol and M2HB heavy machine gun are still in service in the United States Armed Forces, at least in some capacity, despite both being over a century old.

John M. Browning, c.1920.

At the end of World War One, however, Browning did not rest on his laurels after a sixty-year career of designing weapons for both civilians and military forces. As he was no longer offering his designs exclusively to Winchester, after the war was over, Browning began working with the Belgian firm Fabrique Nationale (FN). One of the final designs Browning was working on, a French military requirement for a new service pistol, the “Grand Rendement” (French for “high efficiency“), would never be completed, as Browning would die suddenly of heart failure, on the floor of his son and co-designer’s shop November 26, 1926, at the age of 71.

The service pistol design, while not complete, had advanced far enough that it could be completed by Browning’s assistant, designer Dieudonné Saive, a tremendously talented designer in his own right, who would go on to design many legendary firearms, including the FAL (Fusil Automatique Leger or Light Automatic Rifle), which would become known as the “Right Arm of the Free World.”

An FN Browning High Power, belonging to Indonesia’s Marinir (Marine Corps).

The pistol for the French contract was a “game-changer” design. Browning had been one of the first designers of practical and reliable semi-automatic pistols, as far back as 1899, and the French pistol built on from everything he had learned to that point. The task, however, was not simple, as Browning had to compete with himself — he had previously sold his patent on the M1911 to Colt Manufacturing; as a result, Browning was unable to directly copy that design. The new pistol used a 13-round, detachable box magazine (designed by Saive), the first true ‘staggered-stack’ design that allowed a near-doubling of ammunition capacity, without overly-enlarging the grip.

Due to the French commission’s wandering requirements (something all to common in the weapons design world, being one of the chief reasons for mindless cost overruns in defense products), the design was unable to mature until 1931, when the Belgian Army ordered 1,000 units of the early design, and was finally completed in 1934…Which was, of course, when the French chose another pistol, that went on to become barely a footnote in history.

Weapons used by Swedish Volunteer Corps. Inglis of Canada HP-35 in upper-right corner (#4).

The Belgian Army, however, had been following the pistol’s development, and were highly impressed with the small sample that they had purchased three years earlier. The French competition was barely over, when the Belgians formally adopted the pistol, as the “HP-35“, as their national sidearm, which would become known as the “High Power“.

World War 2 saw Nazi Germany swallow Belgium whole, and with it, the FN factories. When it became clear that Belgium would fall, Saive and other FN engineers fled to England, and carried the designs of many weapons, including the High Power, with them. The High Power’s plans were handed over to John Inglis and Company, of Toronto, Canada, who rapidly tooled up lines to produce two versions of the design: the standard model with fixed sights, and a version with an adjustable rear sight and a detachable shoulder stock (primarily for a Nationalist Chinese contract). From there, the High Power took off to became the primary sidearm of the armies of 93 nations, as well as many special operations forces, most famously, Great Britain’s SAS, and remains in service with many of those militaries to this day.

Canadian soldiers inspect their weapons, Camp Blanding, Fla., April 18, 2009, in support of Partnership of the Americas 2009. USMC photo.

Unfortunately, all good things come to an end – or seem to. After 82 years of continuous production, FN Herstal announced that the production of the Hi-Power would end, and it was discontinued in early 2018 by Browning Arms. From 2019 to 2022, with no new Belgian Hi-Powers being built, clones were designed by various firearm companies around the world, including Springfield Armory, as the “SA-35.” These new Hi-Power clones began competing with each other by offering new finishes, enhanced sights, redesigned hammers, beveled magazine wells, improved trigger, and increased magazine capacity.

However, in 2022, presumably to compete with the sudden surge in Hi-Power popularity, FN announced they would resume production of the Browning Hi-Power. The 2022 “FN High Power” incorporated a number of entirely new features such as a fully ambidextrous slide lock, simplified takedown method, enlarged ejection port, reversible magazine release, wider slide serrations, different colored finish offerings, and 17-round magazines.

As of the end of 2022, the eighty-seven year old design has suddenly found new life, and will likely continue in service well past its 100-year design mark…

…Like many other models of its designer.

Product Review: The “Israeli Bandage”

One of the oft overlooked aspects of the military in general are the small items that form part of a soldier’s kit. While the vast majority of these items are very mundane, indeed, occasionally an item appears which offers a sea-change in its sphere.

The Emergency Bandage, invented by former Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) medic Bernard Bar-Natan in 1994, was first combat-proven during peacekeeping operations in Bosnia-Herzegovina and is now widely deployed and manufactured by many companies, such as PerSlys Medical, is one such product.

While mass produced, purpose-designed combat first aid dressings date back to the early 1920’s with the advent of the “Carlisle Dressing“, developed at the US Army’s Carlisle Barracks, in the aftermath of World War One, surprisingly little further development occurred until PerSys Medical’s design came along. The Carlisle Bandage was a simple affair, simply a sterile dressing on one side, backed by a gauze, later cotton, cloth backing used to secure it in place. (Indeed, Bar-Natan attributes his drive to invent the bandage with being issued Carlisle bandages manufactured in 1938, during his time as an IDF medic.)

While the Carlisle and its successors were useful, and certainly saved lives on the battlefield, they were far from perfect solutions. The dressings frequently came loose, and the design allowed for a great deal of contamination to enter the wound area, even if tightly secured in place. The only way to effectively protect the wound from post-trauma infection was to apply an ace-type elastic wrap after applying the battle wound dressing. Obviously, this was rarely done, as medics tended to use the space and weight of the ace wrap to carry extra bandages, instead.

Variants of the Carlisle were used all the way into the 1990’s, two being included in the first-aid kit of the day, until the deployment of the modern IFAK, which includes the “Emergency Dressing”, as it is termed by the US Military.

Bar-Natan’s design abandoned the simplicity of the Carlisle, in favor of a significantly improved version which, although somewhat more complex to use, provides far better care for an injury victim. The Emergency Bandage comes already attached to an ace-type wrap, which is integral to the dressing’s function. After removal, the sterile side of the dressing is applied as direct pressure to the wound area, and the elastic wrap is wound one turn around the extremity (or the torso or head), until it meets the second essential part of the design.

U.S. Military First Aid Kit. US Department of Defense photo.

The Emergency Bandage’s patented “pressure bar” is a stirrup-shaped device mounted directly with the elastic wrap. Slipping the wrap through the stirrup of the pressure bar, then reversing the direction of the wrap, causes the pressure bar to exert a mild tourniquet-type force against the wound. This results in the creation of an additional barrier to external media contaminating the injury. The wrap is then secured in place by the bandage’s closure bar, which hooks into the bandage in much the same way as a ballpoint pen clipping to a shirt pocket.

US Military-issue IFAK, 2012. US Army photo.

Additionally, the Emergency Bandage can in many instances be self-applied one-handed, something extremely difficult, if not impossible, with the Carlisle-model dressing family.

Mated to QuikClot-impregnated gauze, this provides a very powerful field dressing that is practical, easy to use and easy to train on. Indeed, the Emergency Bandage has been credited with saving many of the victims of the notorious 2011 shooting in Tucson, AZ, in which Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords was critically wounded.

The Emergency Bandage – the “Israeli Bandage” to many US troops – has saved, and continues to save, lives in combat theaters and disaster emergencies, around the world.

The Freedomist — Keeping Watch, So You Don’t Have To
Product Review: The X-18 ATC ‘Tank Boat’

When the United States Marine Corps’ (USMC) Commandant, General David H. Berger, announced his radical vision in 2019 of “reinventing” the Marine Corps to perform duties on a basis more in line with the guidance from then-Secretary of Defense Mark Esper, his program proved to be highly controversial, not least, in light of recent events in Ukraine and Russia. This vision radically restructures the Marine Corps, removing main battle tanks entirely, and significantly reducing both “bayonet strength” in infantry battalions, as well as heavily cutting back on conventional artillery and tactical air transport, all in an attempt to fight the People’s Republic of China (PRC).

It is bewildering – to say the least – as to how these ideas could work verses a major-war opponent may be an open question. Primarily, the controversy revolves around the significantly reduced capacity in fire support.

OVERVIEW

Fire support for landing operations has long consisted of frigate– to destroyer-class vessels deploying various types of stand-off land attack missiles, as well as cannons in the 5-inch/125mm range. Not since the Landing Ship, Medium (Rocket) (LSM(R)) of World War 2 has there been a truly dedicated close-inshore bombardment-capable vessel. Since the end of the Vietnam War (1964-1975), “inshore fire support” has consisted primarily of craft armed with .50/12.7mm heavy machine guns, automatic grenade launchers, mortars or flamethrowers.

However, times change, and technology changes apace.

Okinawa, April – June 1945: An American rocket ship fires a salvo of rockets during the bombardment of Okinawa. US Navy photo.

Case in point: As technology and high-tech industry has expanded throughout the world, more and more nations are developing energetic and dynamic design firms. Recently unveiled by Indonesian shipbuilder PT Ludin, the Atasena-class X-18 ATC (Armored Troop Carrier) – originally called, for obvious reasons, the “Tank Boat” – may look like something out of a “GI Joe” movie, but it is definitely an innovative development of preexisting concepts.

Name of Indonesia islands greater than 1000 km2 in area.

Comprised of over 18,000 separate islands, and being on the front lines of both insurgency, piracy and general world unrest, Indonesia has a definite need for an inshore fire support vessel with a heavy punch. In this, the X-18 “Tank Boat” certainly delivers.

Designed by PT Ludin, the X-18 ATC is to be built by the veteran small craft yards of North Sea Boats. The current production unit that has undergoing testing by the Indonesian Army is armed with the Cockerill C1030 MK44S 30mm cannon unmanned turret. A mock-up vessel, shown at international arms shows when the details of the X-18 were released mounted a mock-up of a planned Cockerill 105mm cannon with an automatic loading system in a small, 2-person turret, with a 360° traverse and a pair of .50cal/12.7x99mm heavy machine guns as secondary weapons, with other secondary weapons possible. In either configuration, the X-18 can also carry up to 60 troops, up to 5 tons of cargo, or a variety of small, rigid-hulled inflatables. This would allow the deployment of conventional boarding or landing parties, as well as special operations teams — who could potentially have 105mm artillery support within a 10km arc from the craft. Another planned version would mount some form of dedicated anti-ship, and possibly anti-submarine, missiles.

CONCLUSION

With a reported draft of only 0.8 meters and a reported 600nm range (the distance from Washington, D.C. to Miami, FL) at 9 knots (but able to cruise at 40 knots, with a 50 knot maximum speed), the twin-hulled catamaran design would certainly have long legs. The design is impressive enough – in theory – to have reportedly garnered an early order from the United Arab Emirates, with India, Greece and the Philippines expressing serious interest.

A U.S. riverboat (Zippo monitor) deploying napalm during the Vietnam War. US Navy photo.

While its armor (NATO Stanag 4569) may be rather unimpressive, proof only against small arms and shell fragments at a distance, in the inshore environment, the ability to swiftly bring large numbers of troops, backed up by significant firepower, to bear on an enemy’s rear areas is a major advancement in firepower.

This is something that the USMC, struggling with shrinking procurement budgets and a general drop-off in enlistments, should seriously consider adding to its arsenal, not least because of a projected purchase price of under US$20million each.

Not every bright idea comes out of the US defense establishment.

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