[Suhiir]

I think the "West" assumes air superiority so area air defense systems aren't a real priority. And to be honest since that has always been the case since about 1942 I can see why. One could argue if that would have been true had there been a NATO vs Warsaw Pact war, but since it never happened we'll never know.

I do think that the US in particular tends to neglects local air defense as well. Stingers are all well and fine but there are never enough of them around to deal with more then 4-6 (if that many) aircraft/helos.

The only ATGM under armor the USMC has ever had is the LAV-AT (we'll discount the "armored" HUMMWVs), and that's more of a side effect of wanting ATGM's that could keep up with the LAV units. Since the advent of the ATGM equipped Attack Helicopter the USMC has tended to rely on them as it's primary anti-armor system. One could argue if that's a good idea or not, but again, up until this point it has worked just fine.