Come on folks, give the AAC a break! Remember that the Army Air Corps main task was to find large Russian convoys of armoured vehicles then call in armed helicopters (Scout[with SS11 missiles], then laterly Lynx[with TOW]) to destroy said convoys.
Now that there is no real threat from the East the Army Air Corps have had to redefine their role. What this role is has yet to be understood. The Lynx is useless in any climate other than a European climate at sea level, the Gazelle is going to the knackers yard without being replaced and the Apache has yet to be tried and tested in an operational environment since waste-o-space got their sticky mitts on it.
So, come on, lets see what transpires in Afghanistan then we can all either praise the concept or pull it to shreds. All this backstabbing is an exercise in futility.