A strange bargain. Due to Viet Nam an entire generation of new weapons systems were never developed or deployed by all three services. The US Army in 1972 was largely operating weapon systems from Korea to the early 60’s. Some, such as the 8” howitzer were developed for ww2. The Uh-1 helicopter workhorse of the war entered service in 1959/60. Only he rapidly developed Apache was new and would not have survived a Central Front NATO war, which was the real measurement of utility.
Apache was new and would not have survived a Central Front NATO war,
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Estimated Survival Time: 15 seconds. Or the time it takes for the copter to be seen, the missile launched, and hit.