Quote Originally Posted by jwater View Post
This seems to be somewhat of a hot topic recently, which is good for me since I'm working on a thesis on military policy and I want to focus on the use of armor (and probably also airpower) in asymmetric warfare, but more specifically COIN operations.

SWJ Blog recently posted this http://smallwarsjournal.com/blog/2010/04/more-on-armor/ and Tom Ricks' recent post on Armor is generating some good discussion as well http://ricks.foreignpolicy.com/posts...t#commentspace.

So first let me make a couple things clear: I am not interested in whether US armor is becoming defunct or outdated, and I do not believe that armor should be sacrificed in the face of asymmetric warfare. Ricks' note that X number of Staff Sergeants are not qualified on the M1, or commenters' discussion of the Israeli fiasco in Lebanon are really aside from what I'm interested in.

My question is this: are weapon systems like the M1 and the AH-64 liabilities in a strictly COIN environment?

I understand the morale boost that such systems can bring to beleaguered infantry in a firefight, but my concern is that their destructive capabilities can really endanger the overall mission. Political considerations about troop levels aside, wouldn't the costs associated with such systems be better spent on more, better equipped troops on the ground and other lower-key systems to support a less kinetic approach?

Again, let me cover my ass here: I'm not trying to knock cav or aircav in any way, I don't think such weapon systems should be phased out, but I wonder if they're really appropriate in our current COIN operations.

Thank you for any feedback you can give me on this!
Cost benefit.
There is a huge psychological advantage ini having the biggest stick, and if you use it wisely, the negatives are minimal.

If you don't think watching apache's hover around hampers TB recruiting, you are crazy.
As for the cost/benefit, you need these pieces of equipment for the overall mission of support and defend against all enemies, so you need to have them anyway. The question becomes how much do you need.
The Canadian Leos ( I think they were Leos, not an armor guy) were really counter productive in Kandahar. Apaches, when handled correctly, were huge force multipliers.

One of many keys in COIN is manueverability. Nothing beats a helocopter in that regard. Now, if only we had a proximity fused 30mm round...