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Prince Harry arrives in U.S. for helicopter training

Prince Harry arrives at the Naval Air Facility in El Centro, Calif., on Oct. 6, 2011. LS3 Sarah Candito/Rex Features via AP Images

(CBS/AP) LONDON - Prince Harry has arrived in the United States for a two-month military helicopter training course, Buckingham Palace confirmed on Friday.

The prince, known as Captain Harry Wales in the British Army Air Corps, will start his training at the Naval Air Facility at El Centro, Calif., where he will fly Apache helicopters in the desert near the Mexican border.

Pictures: Prince Harry

The facility hosts allied troops throughout the year because its hot, dusty conditions replicate Afghanistan's harsh environment and the clear weather allows for constant flying.

Harry is among 20 students in the British Army participating in Exercise Crimson Eagle, which ends at Gila Bend Auxiliary Air Force Base in Arizona, where they will fire missiles, rockets and cannons from the Apache helicopters.

Upon completion of the course, Harry, 27, will return to the U.K. as a fully trained Apache pilot, where he will then be assigned to an Apache squadron. It will then be up to the Ministry of Defense, reports say, to determine whether he will be deployed.

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