[Cannoneer No. 4]

what we need instead are helicopters which are tougher than the Apaches

How 'bout instead of helicopters we let the Army have purpose-built fixed wing mudfighters?

A dirty little secret of Army Aviation is that there are a lot of things fixed wings do better/cheaper, but fixed wings belong to the Air Force. Back when there were Army Air Forces and Army Ground Forces, each field army got a tactical air force to provide close air support and air interdiction, but ever since the Air Force became an independent service they haven't shown as much enthusiasm for CAS as the Army would like, so the Army has spent billions trying to replicate that level of support with the air assets allowed to it.

[SLB]

From 1959 until 1961, my F-I-L was the chief combat developer for the Mohawk, the last fixed wing aircraft actually developed 100% by the Army. The actual title of the program was "High Performance Aircraft in Support of Ground Combat Operations." He says the Air Force had a fit and that DoD stepped in and directed the outcome be a reconnaissance aircraft rather than ground attack. Thus the birth of the Mohawk.