Helicopter plan brings jobs hope

Workers will replace outdated equipment with new technology

More jobs could be generated in Kent through a scheme to upgrade old Russian-made helicopters.

Defence giant BAE Systems has launched a multi-million pound initiative to install state of the art technology in outdated machines from its base in Rochester, Kent.

The company has bought a Mi-24 HIND helicopter as a trial project to market the upgrade technology.

Workers will replace the aircraft's radio, digital maps and navigational equipment to bring it in line with NATO requirements.

The firm then hopes to win major contracts to upgrade similar aircraft in other European countries.

The helicopter was main force in the battlefield in the 1970s

Jim Field, of BAE Systems, said: "All the Central European countries that we associated with in the old Warsaw Pact have now either joined Nato or applied to join Nato.

"What they would like to do is make their existing Russian helicopters compatible with Nato, rather than buy new helicopters - it's a lot of saving for them.

"The sort of monies we are looking at is in the hundreds of millions of pounds from those various countries."

The company hopes its large-scale investment will result in new jobs at the Rochester plant.

The Mi-24 HIND was the main force in the battlefield in the 1970s until the end of the Cold War.