It was honestly a good idea for a need. A low-observable moderately-armed light helicopter that could sneak all over the place as a recon element, and have a few good heavies on hand for when it found a target of opportunity. The biggest killer of the RAH-66 was its pilot - specifically, having to have one sitting in what would have been a forward-deployed and likely mostly-unsupported helo flitting about trying to find the bad guy and risking his life to do it.
Especially as this little thing was maturing quite nicely and stealing the Comanche's job. Hell, didn't a big nail in the coffin for the RAH-66 program hit when the first Predator dropped a Hellfire successfully? That was late-90s, IIRC...
http://www.armadninoviny.cz/domains/0023-armadninoviny_cz/useruploads/images/raper.jpg
(Yes I know what the filename says, it's a czech site so I'm allowing for a weird translation/typo fail)
actually i need to chime in here..
the Comanche project ended in 2004, but it had been pretty much dead from when the first prototype rolled out in 1995. with the End of the cold war hitting right aound when the project started in 1988, the question of whether an expensive new attack helicopter was even needed had been looming over the project from day one, and by 1995, it was clear to everyone involved that the soviet union was gone and the massive super-power vs super-power conflict it was designed for wasn't going to happen.
when it was shown that that upgraded versions of the AH-64 Apache (the AH-64D Apache Longbow), AH-1 Cobra (the AH-1Z "viper" Supercobra) and the OH-58 Kiowa Warrior (the OH-58D) offered similar operational capabilities at a far cheaper price, the project lost steam.
the first predator to employ a weapon was on 16 February, 2001. the first deployments of the MQ-1A armed versions occurred later that year, but were considered a stopgap until the larger more capable MQ-9 Reaper could be deployed (which it was, in 2007)
so no, the predators did not kill the Comanche. at most, they were a final nail in the coffin.
interesting bit, did you know that the predator drone's origin actually dates back to the 80's? the CIA had the Leading Systems Incorporated "Amber" UAV developed to spy on hostile countries, though it had its funding killed in early 1989 as fallout from attempts to consolidate numerous drone projects into a coherant development program. that bankrupted the company that built it, because they had sunk a lot of funds into work on improved models..
Leading Systems Incorporated would be bought up by General Atomics, who would update the Amber into the "Gnat 750" in late 1989, using the LSI plans as a start.
both of these drones lacked sattelite comms (which at the time were really bulky unless you had the cutting edge military gear the CIA didn't want to risk on a drone), though the i-Gnat that the CIA used in the early 1990's, featured a dorsal satellite comm, various airframe improvements, and a turboprop engine to get the extra power to handle the extra weight.
the I-Gnat 750 is the predecessor of the GNAT 750-45, better known as the MQ-1 Predator, which started development in 1994 and the first prototype flew in 1995, and the first deployment was in 1996 to the Balkans. (where interestingly enough, it was operating alongside the CIA's I-Gnat 750's)
