DangerMouse,
I was interested to know what the blade was certified against as it starts an interesting line of thought regarding compliances for military front line operations, as my previous thread tried to say (poorly I guess), it opens the door for a quicker acquisition route for equipment as full Def Stan compliance no longer appers to be compulsory, which can only help UK industry and the end user.
My point is that Def Stan and FAR29 are very different beasts. FAR plays no part whatsoever in Def Stan 'certification'. There are probably no aircraft in the entire inventory that are fully in 'compliance' with Def Stan anyway. The collected skills of the RTSA, IPT, QinetiQ, and Agusta Westland (yes, they ARE involved), will 'certify' the blades in an appropriate and rigorous way that will ensure that the blades are safe for use.