Leon,
Yes, yes and yes to everything you say.....but please read the entire thread before posting and you will see that many on here (including myself) agree that more helicopters is not the solution, but I think the majority of people on this thread see an increase in helicopter lift as an essential part of a solution.
The very fact that commanders on the ground have the choice in the way that they conduct their business rather than being forced down one road move solution is enough for me as an operator.
Of course more UAVs/UCAVs, of course more ISR - yes yes and again yes. But in my comfort zone of helicopters, on a military aviation blog, I focus on how we in the rotay world can rapidly and efficiently deliver an increase in lift that may (and I use the word deliberately) provide increased protection to the ground manoeuvre commander as he can elect to bounce his patrols from grid to grid avoiding high threat canalised roads and vehicle choke points. In certain circumtances with enough CH47, true air mobility will allow a commander to drive out of Camp Bastion in vehicles, conduct a patrol and then be air lifted randomly and with complete surprise to the next patrol objective. And if not CH47 to lift vehicles, then even more Merlins or Puma LEP will be able to bounce foot patols around the Area of Opeations, randomly, and again adding surprise to the enemy as areas identified as a high threat by the int community are flown over to an area identified as a lower threat for landing and re-establishing a patrol dominance/security. As per Northern Ireland and the Balkans. I say again, where did we throw away those Lessons (hard) Learned from those campaigns? South Armagh was humming with helicopters because of the road side bomb/ IED threat.
Not rocket science.
That alone Leon must surely add to protection?
The message that it adds flexibility and choice to the commander on the ground - something that sadly we are not capable of at the moment (and on the current forecast will not be able to for the forseeable future with 10,000+ boots on the ground)