Attack helicopters

Not a subject that is debated much here. I must say my favourite attack helicopter is the Augusta Tonel/Mangusta. It’s light, relatively cheap and can therefore be deployed in large numbers by a small country

I’ve never been able to understand why countries pay a fortune for attack helo’s like the Apache, same price as an f-16c, but are 20 times more vulnerable in a conventional war situation. In Iraq 12 Apaches were disabled in half an hour by soldiers with RPG’s and machine guns, that’s bad value for money.

There was a thread about the RH-66 Commanche, it looks like a great machine, but I fail to understand why stealth is important to helicopters. Of course its good to have stealth, but at what cost? The RH-66, I’m told costs as much as 1.5 APaches,