Image of the Day: 21 January 2013 - by UK MoD

21 January 2013 mod.uk

In the middle of counter-piracy and counter-narcotics work in the Indian Ocean, HMS Northumberland's Merlin helicopter sends more than 100 flares cascading through the sky in order to test their ability to decoy incoming heat-seeking missiles, fired either by other aircraft or ground-based threats, drawing them away from the helicopter's engines onto a much hotter target. [Picture: Leading Airman (Photographer) Maxine Davies, Crown Copyright/MOD 2013]