Helo News game related.

[PvtJoker]

Originally Posted by Suhiir

8. Again the current game model won't allow damaged helos to do anything but run for home.

Which is pretty much what they will do in real life, as shown by the (in)famous incident during OIF. Any more than light damage and an attack helo is a mission kill. The same incident also showed what knowledgeable people already knew: even modern attack helos can be damaged by rifle caliber fire. The tail rotor is the most obvious vulnerability, but it's not the only one (if it was, everybody would be using Kamov style dual main rotors).

Basically, when marketing material says that an attack helo is protected against caliber X projectiles, it means that the armored areas can withstand a couple of hits by said caliber HE shells (or API in case of =< 14.5mm machine guns) and the aircraft can still fly home. It does NOT mean AFV style protection, which means that you can fire a large number of rounds at the vehicle and expect the armor to stop them all no problems.