A combat Cobra helicopter fires during the EFES-2009 military exercise in Izmir May 26, 2009. REUTERS/Umit Bektas (TURKEY MILITARY POLITICS) 

A man walks on the beach at Coney Island past an AH-1 Cobra helicopter while talking on his telephone in New York May 21, 2009. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson (UNITED STATES MILITARY HEALTH) 

A woman walks on the beach at Coney Island past an AH-1 Cobra helicopter in New York May 21, 2009. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson (UNITED STATES MILITARY HEALTH IMAGES OF THE DAY) 

A U.S. Marines Cobra helicopter flies as other Marines patrol a village in the Golestan district of Farah province, April 30, 2009. REUTERS/Goran Tomasevic (AFGHANISTAN CONFLICT) 

A United States Marine Corps Cobra helicopter fires a missile at a fake town built of shipping containers, known as "Yodaville" at the Barry M. Goldwater Range in Yuma, Arizona June 17, 2008. Yodaville has cars, street lights, and buildings such as a mosque and a school, to simulate a town in the Middle East, to prepare the Marines for combat in Iraq and Afghanistan. REUTERS/Rick Scuteri (UNITED STATES) 

The burned wreckage of a UH-1N Huey helicopter sits among a group of AH-1W Cobra helicopters near the airstrip at Camp Rhino in southern Afghanistan, Friday, December 7, 2001. [The helicopter crashed and burned last night and two servicemen suffered minor injuries, spokesman Capt. David Romley said. Romley also said the crash did not appear to be a result of enemy action. He said it could have been because of dust, a major problem for the Marines in the desert here. ] 

The burned wreckage of a UH-1N Huey helicopter sits among a group of
AH-1W Cobra helicopters near the airstrip at Camp Rhino in southern
Afghanistan, Friday, Dec. 7, 2001. The chopper crashed and burned last
night and two servicemen suffered minor injuries, spokesman Capt. David
Romley said. Romley also said the crash did not appear to be a result
of enemy action. He said it could have been because of dust, a major
problem for the Marines in the desert here. REUTERS/POOL/Dave Martin

SMM DFM/SV 

The U.S. Army said on Friday it will slash the number of helicopters in its current fleet from 4,500 to 3,500 by 2004, retiring all Vietnam-era AH-1 "Cobra" attack helicopters and UH-1 "Huey" troop transports. Debris swirls around South Korean Army soldiers take up defensive positions as commandos drop from a UH-1H helicopter during a joint USA and Republic of Korean forces exercise in this file photo taken on August 20, 1999. REUTERS/Lee Jae-won

HK/TRA