What is News?

Our news media is vital to understanding what is going on in the world, but it isn't enough on its own. You need to understand a lot of related material to interpret what you read.

And you should look at other sources in the areas of your interest. One thing that constantly amuses me about the main stream media is that it often takes quite a bit of time for information available to those looking for it to appear in the general press, if it makes it at all, of course.

This story reports on the debut of the XM-25 in Afghanistan:

After years of development, the XM25 Counter Defilade Target Engagement System, about the size of a regular rifle, has now been deployed to US units on the battlefields of Afghanistan, where the Army expects it to be a "game-changer" in its counterinsurgency operations.

"For well over a week, it's been actively on patrols, and in various combat outposts in areas that are hot," said Lieutenant Colonel Chris Lehner, program manager for the XM25.

The gun's stats are formidable: it fires 25mm air-bursting shells up to 2,300 feet (700 meters), well past the range of most rifles used by today's soldiers, and programs them to explode at a precise distance, allowing troops to neutralize insurgents hiding behind walls, rocks or trenches or inside buildings.

"This is the first time we're putting smart technology into the hands of the individual soldier," Lehner told AFP in a telephone interview.

It's a fine article, although calling it a "game changer" for the war is misleading. No weapon, whether the XM-25 or Abrams tanks, is a game changer in Afghanistan if it is not used as part of a proper strategy that uses the weapon to support strategy and tactics rather than drive them.

Back to the point, while a fine article, you'd know about this a month ago if you read Strategypage, as I did.

Further, what is the real news about this weapon? In some ways, it really is a game changer. This is yet another precision weapon--but pushed farther down the chain into a squad as an organic weapon--that increases battle tempo, as I wrote about several years ago:

Coupled with recon assets that now roam the battlefield, precision strike capability will continue this speeding up effect. Our ground forces can look to the day in conventional combat where we kick off attacks and count on our forces to spot enemies during the advance and then destroy them with precision weapons when identified. The speed of reaction may very well allow us to fight in damn near march order in non-urban areas without having to pause to deploy against resistance unless it is a major force well dug in and concealed.

And precision fire support means that line units won't need to fire as much because supporting units to the rear and in the air will take out the targets. And those supporting units won't need to resupply as often, too. So pauses to resupply will dwindle.

Given that night vision gear and land navigation abilities based on GPS allow us to operate 24/7, the limits of human endurance will be the next brake on the speed of combat tempo. We're working on that, too.

Now that is newsworthy. And the ability to seek information that does not rely on the herd instinct and filtering of the main stream media? Now that's a game changer.