Culdrose helicopter arrives in Cyprus

A helicopter from Cornwall has been deployed to Cyprus to boost the defence of UK military forces in the eastern Mediterranean, the Royal Navy says.

The Royal Navy said the Merlin Mk2 helicopter, aircrews and an engineering team, landed at RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus on Monday after leaving RNAS Culdrose, near Helston, on Saturday.

The helicopter from 820 Naval Air Squadron joins the Type 45 destroyer HMS Dragon and two Wildcat helicopters from RNAS Yeovilton in Somerset to be sent to the region.

Culdrose commanding officer Capt James Hall said the aircraft would provide an "additional layer of defence" and would be ready to "respond at short notice to any threat to UK interests".

The Royal Navy said the helicopter had a "powerful radar and mission system" which would provide a "defence against aerial threats".

It said it could fly at a height of one mile (1.6km) and would give advance warning of incoming drones or missiles.

Hall said the 820 Naval Air Squadron had "experience of providing force protection from similar threats, having deployed ASaC [Crowsnest Airborne Surveillance and Control] aircraft on active operations in the Red Sea last year during the transits of the carrier strike group led by HMS Prince of Wales during Operation Highmast".

He said the helicopter would compliment "the defensive measures" provided by both the Wildcat aircraft and HMS Dragon and would add "a layered capability for the protection of UK forces."

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