Never read so much nonsense before, Helicopter was not born in the Vietnam War who told you that, it was born in the Korean War
The use of an attack helicopter used for close air support was demonstrated and proven more than 20 years ago if you did not know during Gulf War in 1991 when a AH-64 squadron attacked a Iraqi Republican Guard Division, the Madinah Division, this was solely an attack helicopter vs armour division battle, since then attack helicopters have been used many times for close air support, no modern army will advance an armoured division consisting of tanks without close air support, as a matter of fact even infantry these days have close air support from attack helicopters
And anyone who comparing Z-10 with Euro copter first needs to establish who are Euro copter operators?? In comparison PLA is huge and have massive land force an attack helo with 8 ATGM is hardly sufficient
And lastly why do you think Z-10 does not have any suppression of heat exhaust or any IR suppression equipment installed over those two turbo shaft exits, not because PLA hasn’t thought of it but because it’s a trade-off between weight and engine power
Why is my post get deleted ?
Before you open your mouth and start screaming you should check your fact first. Though Helicopter was introduced in Korea war their role is limited to SAR, Medivac and Transport of medical and food to isolated troop. It never entered into combat and
At that time the helicopter is too flimsy and under power anyway to do anything else. Only during the Vietnam war were helicopter function as tactical weapon to give the army mobility and carry the fight to the enemy and take the initiative.
Fighting a third rate power that is too weak to defend itself doesn't prove helicopter as front line CAS
The few crotale and outdated SA2 doesn't qualify as robust and layered air defense that country like China or Russia can provide. without ensuring air superiority first helicopter is sitting duck.
China doesn't need helicopter to perform CAS she has JH7A and hundred of J7 that can act as bomb truck
The metric is not that bigger is always better. People should look back in history and not fell for the fallacy of bigger is better. Tiger tank can shoot further and has thicker protective steel but it loose to T34 tank because the latter has better mobility and can be produced in large number and reliable too.
Because of added weight the Tiger was crushed by its own weight literally and encountered mechanical problem
So the metric should be whether WZ10 meet the PLA requirement .And judging by publicity and large number of WZ10 produced I am certain that they are satisfied with the performance of WZ10
