Chaps,
As you know I have given the AH a hard time in the past and agree that sending it to Afghanistan just to escort a smarty tube full of track lube grunts is an utter waste of a £4.2bn investment.
I think that you will find that this is one of almost 20 items on the mission task list for AH in theatre. I do not intend to go into greater detail but lets just say it could clear the Lz visually by day from 15km and wipe it out from 8km. The escort role Apache with 30mm will cruise at 140KTAS and has the ability to fire on the move, of axis and hit sh1t first time, (if the crew have been train in this art - Oh I forgot they haven't)
Saying you don't need AH with you is like saying you don't want to take your personal protection weapon either, Oh thats right.... you don't but then nothing has changed with the SH mentality since the good old days in South Armagh when Lynx 5 had to lead them around by the hand and regularly back north side after nighttime excursions south of the borders 'Lost'.
PP