ROYAL NAVY LYNX DEMONSTRATES FLARE IN INDIAN OCEAN

If ever there was an illustration of the awesome power projected by the Royal Navy’s helicopters – this image is it.

The Lynx helicopter from 815 Naval Air Squadron, Royal Naval Air Station Yeovilton, lit up the night sky with her decoy flares as part of an exercise in the Indian Ocean.

The helicopter is on a nine-month deployment to the Gulf with HMS Richmond – a Portsmouth-based Type 23 frigate which is silhouetted in the background.

Decoy flares – or Infra Red Counter Measures – attract heat-seeking missiles, drawing them away from the helicopter’s engines and onto a much hotter target.

HMS Richmond’s primary tasking in theIndian Ocean has been as part of Combined Maritime Forces Combined Task Force 150. Their mission is to promote maritime security in order to counter terrorist activity and other illegal activities.

Sub-Lieutenant Emily Witcher, one of the ship’s officers of the watch, said: “We can carry out counter narcotics smuggling one day, and immediately switch to anti-submarine warfare training the next. This demonstrates the flexibility that a Type 23 frigate provides.”