English: Pictured are 30mm (dummy) training cannon rounds for the Apache M230 (Chin mounted) Chain Gun.

Army aviators have demonstrated the range and power of the punch their Apache attack helicopters can deliver.

Exercise Talon Gravis has seen 3 Regiment Army Air Corps (3 Regt AAC) launch formations of up to eight Apaches from their base at Wattisham Flying Station in Suffolk to find and strike targets on land and at sea more than 300 miles away.

Flying against simulated enemy air defences, missions have ranged from a daylight attack on shipping in the English Channel off Plymouth to hunting armoured vehicles on Salisbury Plain under the cover of darkness.

The Apaches were replenished at a Forward Arming and Refuelling Point (FARP) - the military equivalent of a Formula 1 pit stop – set up at Keevil airfield on Salisbury Plain.

3 Regt AAC’s role is to provide an aviation deep manoeuvre battlegroup – made up of attack, reconnaissance and transport helicopters - to 3rd (UK) Division, the British Army’s high readiness warfighting division.

• Organization: Army
• Object Name: DSC_0013
• Category: MOD
• Supplemental Categories: Exercises, Operations
• Keywords: 30mm Cannon, M230 Automatic Chain Gun, AH1D, Apache, Attack, Helicopter, Aircraft, Equipment, Army, Training, Exercise, Ex, Regiments, Army Air Corps, 3rd Regiment, 3 REGT AAC, Rounds
• Country: UK