Is it okay to replace the OH-58D Kiowa Warrior with an aircraft (the
ARH-70A) that doesn't offer a mast-mounted sight? Meaning that the
aircraft has to pop up into the open and expose itself in order to aim
its weapons?


The mast mounted site on the Kiowa was designed to allow the scout
helicopter to peek over tree lines in Europe and light targets (like
Soviet tanks)

As the native male dogs are well aware of, trees are not plentiful in
the desert. However attacks from ground fired RPGs and small arms
fire is dense. Therefore the sensor package on the ARH-70 is mounted
on the bottom of the nose to provide 360 deg coverage below.

Have fun,

CTR