SECOND World war style air drops are being used by crews from RAF Lyneham in a bid to cut deaths from roadside bombs.

New technology means the Hercules transport aircraft can drop tonnes of equipment and rations to frontline troops very close to forward operating bases in Helmand.

Until recently they have been supplied by land convoys because air drops have proved notoriously inaccurate.

But travelling by road makes them vulnerable to improvised explosive devices. These bombs account for most of the deaths and injuries suffered by soldiers in the campaign.

Now the crews have a computerised system that tells them exactly where and when to start pushing stores out of the aircraft.

Hercules captain Flt Lt Gareth Burdett said: “The challenges with an air drop in Afghanistan have always been knowing what the wind is doing.

“Dropping stores in the way that we do is a bit like dropping a feather in a corner of a room with a fan blowing.

“The kit that we have now enables us to find out accurately what the wind is doing and therefore we can make sure that from where we release these stores the parachutes will all land in the correct position on the ground.”

As a result soldiers on the ground only have to secure a limited area close to their bases. They can also retrieve the supplies quickly and get back to the relative safety of their base.