March 11, 2006:
The U.S. Army is buying another sixteen AH-64 Apache helicopter gunships, for about $32 million each. These will replace the 16 lost, over the last three years, in Iraq. Some were lost to accidents, but most succumbed to ground fire, usually lots of it when the Apaches were going low and slow to provide fire support for ground troops. In most cases, the crews survived, but the helicopters were not worth repairing.