NEW FLIGHT simulator technology which would allow British and American forces to train together from opposite sides of the Atlantic is likely to be introduced to RAF Leuch-ars.

Squadrons at the Fife air base would be able to take part in mock missions with military bases in the US, using the distributed simulation technology.

It is being devised by high-tech companies in a £7.8 million project and a prototype was unveiled at RAF Waddington, in Lincolnshire, yesterday.

A spokesman for RAF Leuchars said he expected the virtual training capability would eventually come to the station which will see the arrival of the Eurofighter Typhoon in 2010.

Simulators for fighter cockpits, helicopters, air controllers and ground vehicles plus computer- generated troops could be joined via the complex system to create combat scenarios involving the allies.

Qinetiq and Boeing are among business involved in the project, which is still in its experimental phase and being trialled by frontline aircrews.

The Ministry of Defence is yet to give the go-ahead for the UK system to be integrated with the United States’ Distributed Mission Operations network.

The emphasis of the distributed simulation is said to be on tactical operations, not basic flying skills.

But the project comes after a series of so-called friendly fire accidents involving allied forces in the Middle East.

A total of eight UK service personnel have been killed in “blue-on-blue” incidents since the start of the war in Iraq, the MoD said earlier this month.