Fair one, but I'd rather have an Apache with night sensors a cannon and Helfire if it were me on the ground. Maybe a few extra apache and crews to ease the burden? Pred on overwatch?
Pred B gives you the Hellfire option. It also gives you a much greater performance in terms of time on station, op altitude (and consequent noise reduction and reduction in threat to the platform) and is much cheaper to run than the Apache. How about a Pred B on station with manned CAS available on an "as needed" basis?