The aim of the present work is development of an active twist actuation concept for a reduction of vibration and blade-vortex interaction (BVI) noise of helicopters to improve their overall performance. Traditional vibration control methods for helicopters are based on the application of Higher Harmonic Control (HHC) and Individual Blade Control (IBC) methodologies. Due to the recent development of smart materials, new active control technique is implemented now for the control of rotor blades, reduction of their vibration and noise, as well as for an enhanced performance. This approach uses smart material actuation to achieve individual blade control without the need for complex mechanisms in the rotating frame. An application of such materials for the control is resulted in the production of innovative design - the active twist rotor. Active twist control of the rotor blades may be used to refuse the aerodynamic disturbances affecting the blades and in the real time enables an implementation of the active vibration control strategies. The twist deformation of blade is obtained using Macro Fiber Composite (MFC) actuators embedded in the composite blade construction. Two active plies of MFC actuators is located at the top and bottom of the helicopter rotor blade and oriented at ±450 to the spanwise axis. An electric field activates the piezoelectric effect in the piezoceramic fibres of MFC actuators which elongate along the length of fibres and thus distribute a twisting movement along the blade. The methodology based on the planning of experiments and response surface technique was developed for various geometric parameters of the blade and optimum placements of MFC actuators to achieve the maximal angle of twist. The optimisation problem was formulated on the results of parametric study and taking into account the producers requirements. The finite element model of rotor blade was built using ANSYS finite element program. It was comprised of two different types of elements: linear layered structural shell elements SHELL 99 and structural solid elements SOLID 186 which were used to model different components of the blade. The design of this finite element model is based on the dimensions of full-scale BO-105 helicopter rotor blade. An investigated helicopter rotor blade is equipped with NACA23012 airfoil. The helicopter rotor blade consists of C-spar made of unidirectional glass-fibre reinforced plastic (UD GFRP), skin made of ±450 GFRP, foam core, balance weight and MFC actuators. In the static analysis the thermal strain analogy between piezoelectric and thermal strains is used to model piezoelectric effects when the piezoelectric coefficients characterising an actuator are introduced as the thermal expansion coefficients. Verification of the finite element model of full-scale helicopter rotor blade with MFC actuators was made according to the static-twist experiments of the model-scale rotor blades in the German Aerospace Centre (DLR).