IIRC, a handful of the new helicopters were to be deployed to operational army units sometime in 2002, but I don’t know if they actually were as it seems that they were still working some problems out.
I had read somehwere, and I can’t find where now, that delivery was supposed to be 2003 or 2004 - so they wouldn’t be in Iraq now. Also, the military is reducing their order for the chopper, and may even cut it:
There are a few in flight test, on a desultory rate, but not in production much less service. The machine has been around for over a decade already, and is mentioned more often as a candidate for cancellation than for deployment.
I dunno…we seem to be having no end of trouble with helicopters in Iraq. Seems like 9 out of 10 times I hear of an allied casualty over there it is somehow linked to a helicopter (crashes mostly at that…not enemy action). Maybe it’s time for a new helo…
klas:
Not being able to edit posts here is done on purpose. Many of what people say here is in regards to what others have posted…sometimes in heated debate. They don’t want people going back and modifying what they said after the fact. You have to live with what you post and that’s the end of it (in some very rare circumstances you can petition a moderator to edit a post for you but usually that will only be to avoid copyright issues that you may have inadvertently overstepped or some other egregious error that needs rectifying. Sometimes Moderators will do it on their own without asking you too. I wouldn’t bother them for most things though…various mistakes, horrendous spelling or grammar, etc. are all your own problem.