Army officials announced the winners of its greatest inventions competition Aug. 23. Earlier this summer a panel of combat veteran Soldiers reviewed and voted for the most innovative advances in Army technology.

Video by LaRue Tactical

Video by Regional Command Southwest

Video by 1st Armored Division

The M-98 Non-Lethal Distraction Grenade is the latest in a growing supply of non-lethal munitions available to American Soldiers.

Under the direction of the Project Manager for Close Combat Systems (PM CCS), the grenade was developed by engineers at the Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center (ARDEC) at Picatinny Arsenal, the Edgewood Chemical Biological Center at Edgewood, Md., and Rock Island, Ill.

In order to simplify life, let’s assume there are three categories of vessels: small, medium and large. There are, of course, no clear boundaries between the categories; this is more of a general assessment. From an operational view, it is unreliable to use such smaller vessels as jet skis, kayaks and inflatable boats for maritime sniper operations: the smallest wavelets and the operation must be cancelled. This is not to say it is not possible to blast away from an Optimist dinghy, and sometimes necessity knows no law, but just don’t expect to do so with precision and accuracy.

So-called “pocket pistols” have been around for over 200 years. Beginning as small, single-shot flintlock handguns, these guns really exploded in popularity during the percussion era. The family is generally referred to as Derringers, after Henry Deringer, who is credited as the “father” of this ilk. Not to be left out of the mix, percussion revolvers evolved to include small, “snub nose” types, and when fixed ammunition made its appearance the numbers grew along with the term “pocket pistol.”

Discussions of the size and caliber of a “proper” handgun are never ending. While this is a good thing, it often gets out of hand with strong, confusing opinions. Let’s sort this out, while showcasing a brand new pistol designed for personal protection.

To simplify, there are two types of handguns—big ones and small ones. These include revolvers and self-loading pistols and we’ll only deal with small self-loading pistols here.