Many of the 2,000 or so members of the British Parachute Regiment in the region have served in Northern Ireland, and military planners have spotted close similarities between the two situations.

Ian Kemp, land forces consultant with Jane's Defence Weekly, told BBC News Online that he would be "hard-put to design a training package more tailor-made.

"The whole spectrum of experience picked up in Northern Ireland will be invaluable for any regiment which has served there", he said. "British troops will be far better-equipped for Kosovo than others."

The Paras "know how to bolster a sense of security"

He said the biggest similarity between the two situations is the importance - and difficulty - for the military of proving its impartiality to the civilian population.

Chief of Defence Staff Sir Charles Guthrie has said the troops need to "gain the confidence" of both the Kosovo Albanians and the Serbs, "and protect both sides from the possibility of harm...under the most difficult circumstances".

Mr Kemp said the whole emphasis in Northern Ireland was neutrality.

Paramilitary snipers

The immediate threats which the Paras face as part of Nato's K-For force also bear similarities to those encountered from terrorists and hostile civilians in Northern Ireland.

Paras in Kosovo have already come under fire from a presumed plain-clothes Serbian policeman, and confronted a group believed to be KLA fighters.

Immediate threats such as "hidden snipers, landmines, booby traps and timebombs" are similar to those encountered in Northern Ireland, said Mr Kemp, although these should recede after about a week when the Serb military has left the region.

They must juggle a "mish-mash" of roles

However, the Ministry of Defence disagrees. "In Northern Ireland the terrorists worked under cover," a spokesman told BBC News Online. "It's not quite the same scenario in Kosovo, where the hostility is quite open."

Defusing tensions

After the Serb troops have left, the biggest task for the K-For troops will be "keeping the lid on the situation" within the civilian population, said Mr Kemp - just as it was in Northern Ireland.

Soldiers are partly "diplomats on-the-ground", he said, rebuilding relationships between communities. The Paras, and any regiment which has served in Northern Ireland, have experience of this.

They will be used to patrolling towns and villages to bolster and encourage a sense of security among the civilian population, he said, and will be practised in calming situations where emotions are running high.

A Para on patrol in Northern Ireland

"Calming people down, not letting people wind you up at vehicle checkpoints...all these kind of things would be useful".

The MoD says the troops "have been told very strongly that their role is to keep their heads and calm things down", said the spokesman.

The spokesman warned that the situation in Kosovo could be much more dangerous that that in Northern Ireland.

"If they happen to have served in Northern Ireland they will have patrolling experience, but the set-up is very different - Northern Ireland is still a very orderly society," he said. "The shops are still open.

"Emotions in Kosovo are running very, very high. There's a lot of people with a desire for revenge and a lot of inhabitants who are afraid for their lives."

K-For troops must juggle a "mish-mash" of roles, dealing in different ways with Albanian and Serb civilians, Serb troops and KLA fighters.

Mr Kemp said the "whole spectrum" of practice in Northern Ireland would be vital, even in small respects such as familiarity with vehicle checkpoints, working in small groups, dealing with the public and dealing with the media.

But more important, said the MoD, is the training which members of K-For have received over the last two or three weeks in the Balkans, working with military planners under Lieutenant-General Sir Michael Jackson.

"They know the terrain. They are familiar with the language. And they have trained with military planners for every single possible scenario."