GALLERY: Firepower from the skies over Helmand

Lance Corporal Gary Lovett looks through the sights of a Heavy Machine Gun mounted in the door of a Mk 9A Lynx helicopter [Picture: Corporal Barry Lloyd, Crown Copyright/MOD 2010]

The new engine allows the Mk 9A to fly faster, carry more weight and fly in hotter conditions - the Mk 7 was unable to fly in the day time during the Afghan summer [Picture: Corporal Barry Lloyd, Crown Copyright/MOD 2010]

A Lynx Mk 9A helicopter comes in to land at the helicopter landing site at Main Operating Base Juno [Picture: Corporal Barry Lloyd, Crown Copyright/MOD 2010]

The Mk 9A can carry more weight and, therefore, more firepower in the form of a .50 calibre Heavy Machine Gun which makes the Mk 9A more effective at engaging targets on the ground [Picture: Corporal Barry Lloyd, Crown Copyright/MOD 2010]

The Army Air Corps are now deploying the Mk 9A variant of the Lynx helicopter, which has a more powerful engine than its Mk 7 predecessor [Picture: Corporal Barry Lloyd, Crown Copyright/MOD 2010]

A Lynx Mk 9A helicopter flying over the desert in Helmand province [Picture: Corporal Barry Lloyd, Crown Copyright/MOD 2010]

A Lynx Mk 9A helicopter comes in to land at Main Operating Base Juno [Picture: Corporal Barry Lloyd, Crown Copyright/MOD 2010]