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Page last updated at 12:04 GMT, Monday, 16 November 2009

Merlins 'will make significant difference'

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Three weeks before he was killed by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan, Colonel Rupert Thorneloe warned that a lack of helicopters was making British troops more vulnerable.

Without proper air support, he said, troops were being forced to travel by road, leaving them wide open to home-made bombs.

The first of a deployment of six new RAF Merlin helicopters have now arrived in Afghanistan.

Colonel Richard Kemp, a former Commander of British Forces in Afghanistan told the BBC the extra helicopter will make a significant difference to operations there.

READ MORE: British troops get delayed Merlin

SEE ALSO

Merlin helicopters arrive in Afghanistan(01.52)
RAF's £42m fleet trains in California(02.02)
Adapting Merlins for Afghan conflict(03.04)

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