Veil lifted on Afghan pilot training programme
The UK Ministry of Defence and QinetiQ have lifted the lid on a secret programme to train Afghan helicopter pilots in the UK.
Now in its final weeks of operation, Project Curium has trained 27 Afghan nationals to fly the Russian-built Mil Mi-17 transport helicopter, with training flights taking place from Boscombe Down into the Salisbury Plain Training Area.
The first of the students trained in the UK arrived back in Afghanistan in September last year with the final group due to complete their training in the coming weeks.
Involved in the project were engineers from QinetiQ and volunteer aircrew
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