Exhelo:

The bru-ha-ha over the USAF “accidently” picking an H-47 varient for the rescue role, the cancellation of the RAH-66, and the decision by the Army to buy some European choppers (UH-113?) for “noncombat only” roles shows how hard it can be to acquire the right hardware.

Go over to wwww.aviationweek/extra and read what they have to say about the H-47 pick.

And does anyone really think that the UH-113 will only be used for noncombat roles? No way! When the shootin’ starts I really doubt they will run away. And I have no doubt that F/A-22′s will be used for CAS; they won’t run away, either.

I guess that the fact that you cannot predict what the equipment will be used for actually argues for the oft-condemned process of “gold plating” our hardware. Specifications can be overdone and usually are, but building in design margin is always a good idea.