I said the Army screwed up when it chose the apache over a bell helicopter bird. It had problems in gulf 1 and now in gulf 2. meanwhile the marine Gunships Called AH-1 Whiskey (for political puropses ) is functioning fine. And it should be called tha AH-1985 because that is what it is. The damned apache Power train and sight system is too delicate for Desert combat and did not fucntion worth a damn above 10000 feet in Afghanastan, Meanwhile the Marine cobra worked well in both places. The folks at Bell are now test flying and beginning production of the AH-1 Z ( which should be called the AH-1998, because that is what it is) is coming down the pike in a year or so. I helped design it and it's a truely awesome machine.
BT