A rocket launcher detached from a military helicopter during a training flight on Tuesday, falling into a residential area in Peyia, the defence ministry said.

At around 1pm, a H145M National Guard helicopter was seen flying in a residential area in the Paphos district with the rocket launcher seen falling onto the ground soon after.

“No material damage or injuries were reported from the fall of the rocket launcher,” the ministry said.

Its spokesman Christos Pieris had earlier confirmed to the Cyprus News Agency that the empty launcher had indeed fallen from a National Guard helicopter.

Pieris stressed that the rocket launcher did not include any ammunition and that the incident was under investigation.

The pod lying on the street in Peyia

H145M helicopters are used as light attack helicopters. In March, the first two helicopters of this kind were delivered to Cyprus by Airbus.

“The weapons range includes guns, rockets and missiles. Combined with crewed-uncrewed teaming capabilities, enabling its integration into networked combat, its bandwidth makes it the most performant helicopter in its class,” the Airbus website says.

Authorities are examining the exact circumstances of the incident, clarifying whether it was due to human error or a technical defect of the chopper.