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New rotor blades have been fitted to a long-serving Royal Navy helicopter so it can fly faster and higher, giving it new military capabilities. Siobhan Wagner reports

Royal Navy helicopters that have been used to back-up amphibious assault missions for the past 30 years have been given a new lease of life supporting ground troops in Afghanistan.

The Sea King HC Mk 4 helicopters have been fitted with new composite main rotor blades that generate an increase of up to 2,000lb (908kg) in maximum hover mass. The blades, from US firm

, have also raised maximum forward speed by 15 per cent at 10,000ft above sea level.

Previously the Sea King has only been able to operate at low levels. But the new blades enable it to fly at high altitude, making it suitable for service in the rugged terrain of Afghanistan.

Over the last year, the blades have undergone rigorous performance testing and flight evaluation by the MoD's Aircraft Test and Evaluation Centre using a Sea King test aircraft owned by defence company Qinetiq.

Nigel Peterson,

business group technical manager of rotor evaluation, said Carson blades first came to the attention of the MoD and Qinetiq about five years ago.

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