I spoke from the practical knowledge of people in the field. our biggest issue has been the mobility in those badlands and Americans have been haft-hearted when it came to providing us with potent airbourne mobility, transport and firepower... always mindful in case such assets might upset their new partner in the region i.e. India. hence Chinooks were out of question and we were left with repairs of old cobras and some help in getting Mi17s from third parties.
a friend told me how his team would come under fire immediately after dropping or coming out of helicopters .. Mil Mi-35 takes care of it by dropping assault teams of 5 to 8 .. observers/ sniper teams in an assault and have the firepower standby if "LZ is hot".. doing the job of Pumas, Huey's and cobras in one package. even if we discount the transport part, its firepower alone surpasses both cobras and Bell Huey's alone.
people who have decided to call it bulky, slow and sluggish must compare its data with our current fleet and some of its videos with maneuvers. T-129 if we ever get it, will be the F-16 of our army aviation and we must not burn its hours on TTP and keep it for Indians.
