"R. David Steele" wrote about the B&W design:

Remember that the military does two things. One is NVIS which
has the antenna mounted about 1/4 wavelength above ground. This
gives a good ground effect from 2 MHz to 12 MHz out to 300 miles.

The other is ALE, automatic link, which switches frequencies
automatically to insure the best path. An antenna with tuner
would just be too slow.

David, even for purposes of this discussion, that is a bit oversimplified.
Perhaps that type of broadband temporary antenna installation is acceptable
for field units, but have never seen one of them in a permanent
installation. I happen to be around several hundred HF antenna
installations, and neither NVIS nor ALE operating units use anything of the
kind. Maybe you were referring to field units, as above, not sure. Also,
ATU/couplers are always used for ALE systems, with the memory-response times
measured in milliseconds. This applies to air, ground and marine units for
all armed services. There is no magic antenna for all bands ALE, and units
using NVIS would have little need for ALE in the first place. That doesn't
mean the military hasn't wasted money on it somewhere for short range use,
it just wouldn't realize it's potential for reliable medium to long range
linking.

Jack Painter
Virginia Beach, Va