654 Squadron, 4 Regiment Army Air Corps, Exercise Pashtun Sword, Stanford Training Area in Norfolk, August 2013.

Apaches fire first shots at Norfolk ranges.

Soldiers who fly and maintain the Apache attack helicopter have trained closer to home as they prepare to deploy on operations in Afghanistan.

Exercise Pashtun Sword saw 654 Squadron, 4 Regiment Army Air Corps carry out the first live firing of the Apache’s 30mm cannon at the Stanford Training Area in Norfolk, known as STANTA. Ground crew were tested at rearming and refuelling the Apache at a Forward Arming and Refuelling Point (FARP) - the military equivalent of a Formula 1 pit stop.

The unit, based at nearby Wattisham Flying Station in Suffolk, leave for a four month tour of Helmand Province next month. Apaches have been permanently deployed in Afghanistan since 2006 with all live firing training in the UK previously carried out at Otterburn in Northumberland or Castlemartin in Wales.