Re: Helicopter armor
re: Imp: yeah, that sounds logical, but the "evasive maneuvers" behaviour reflects that. If they start taking too much fire they bob and weave. And I don't doubt that a good burst of 7.62 can hurt a Huey or a Hip, and induce an evac, but those are unarmored anyway. It's the armored helis that need looking at.
And, yeah, I wouldn't be complaining if it were dedicated AA that were swatting them from the sky. It's 7.62 AAMGs mounted on APCs, though, and against Hinds too. Lots of testimony about them withstanding tremendous amounts of punishment and still staying in the fight. I understand the decision to implement the "if heli is damaged then run" behaviour, but I don't agree with its current implementation, which is where they'll hightail it out despite taking only scratch damage. Lots of real-life heli pilots have decided "there are a few holes in my bird but she can still stay in the air, and they still need me to provide cover, so I'm staying".
Otherwise, though, I agree with the tactical advice on how to use helis. SEAD helps, but the greatest threat is MANPADS. Keep your birds flying NOE, run scouts ahead of your main force, and keep in mind that helis are not meant to be the spearhead. Airmobile operations to seize a key town or ridge are inherently high-risk, high-reward activities.
(Also, sidenote, I'd like to ask about the cost of the Blackhawk series, which makes air assaults prohibitively expensive for Americans compared to Hips, which can carry almost twice as many troops--given the size of Soviet infantry platoons, entire platoons per bird is possible--and costs about half as much. There were enough variants, and field-variations, that I think that a Blackhawk variant with less protection and less EW but not costing a ridiculous 170 points per heli should be a good addition to the US orbat.)
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