Gen. Cody: No new tactics in copter attacks (AP)

Gen.: No new tactics in copter attacks

By ROBERT BURNS, AP Military Writer

1 hour, 16 minute ago

BAGRAM AIR BASE, Afghanistan - There is no basis for believing that insurgents' recent
success in shooting down U.S. helicopters in Iraq means they have developed new attack
methods or discovered new U.S. vulnerabilities, the Army's vice chief of staff said
Saturday.

"I see no change in trends" on the part of the insurgent's targeting efforts, "and I see
no capability gaps" on the part of U.S. forces, Gen. Richard Cody said in an interview
en route to this air base north of Kabul, Afghanistan's capital.

Cody said all U.S. helicopters in Iraq recently received upgraded defensive systems to
protect them against known threats like anti-aircraft missiles, although he acknowledged
that helicopters on combat missions face inherent dangers, including small arms fire if
they fly low to avoid being targeted by missiles.

"We've been studying the heck out of this thing," he said, referring to the crashes,
which began in January with the shootdown of a Black Hawk helicopter in which all 12
U.S. soldiers were killed. Later in January two Apache attack helicopters were shot down,
apparently by small arms fire, killing two in each.

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