"If it's firepower the army are after, why don't they make better use of the stacks and stacks of air assets (including AH) armed with precision-guided weapons that orbit daily over Helmand?"
Because it has little to do with firepower, you can't seize and hold the ground with aviation. Aviation, however, can set the conditions to do so. It's all about the joint effect rather than my asset is better or more useful than yours!!
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