Hi Mitch,
Just kidding along with Scott and his comment about a door gunner on Border Patrol. 'Hardware' is what I might want to pack along that particular border the Butterflys are going to be patrolling.
During Rhodesian Bush War, 7 Squadron quick reaction/airmobile 'Fire Force' choppers were Allouette III's in three roles and designated as 'K' cars or 'G' cars.
The 'K' car carried the Senior pilot i/c the chopper force, a ground force commander i/c the ground troops, generally a Major, and a mech/door gunner. The 'G' cars, usually 3 of them, carried a pilot a mech/gunner and a 'stick' of 4 troops, one of whom had a machine gun, and deployed theses troops at the direction of the Fire Force Commander in his airborne OP
The 'K' car door mech/gunner had a 20mm Matra cannon, while the troop carrying 'G' cars mech/gunner had the lighter twin 303 Brownings.
There was a second variant of the 'K' Car called a Dalmatian which would sometimes tag along, and it had quad mounted Browning 303's and was used for fire suppression
This rapid reaction unit could be called out at very short notice to 'deal' with incursions over the border. It was flexible in size and the basic unit was 1 'K' car and 3 'G' cars. A second 'K' could be added eg the 'Dalmation, then there were the 'Cheetahs' 'G' cars which were Hueys and could carry 2 'sticks' of troops. Finally the Fire Force Commander could call in a Dakota with 16 paratroops to act as a sweepline to push the enemy into his stop groups which he had deployed into ambush positions from his 'G' cars.
Now any of that firepower is 'hardware', and since things are getting serious along the border and the violence keeps getting worse, it's always nice to have a big stick just in case you need it, but the Butterfly might not be able to pack any of that.
Still not a bad idea of getting some 'eyes' up in some Butterflys. Can see a lot further and cover more ground than in the old days on a horse.
Just as a quick footnote re horses. The Rhodesian's also used them. They had a mounted Infantry unit called the Grey Scouts that were used for tracker follow-up on infiltrating guerrilla groups. When they found them guess who they called in...yup, Fire Force.
As you can see Mitch it's a slow/quiet day and raining, so no flying, just gassing on the Forum.