Sunday, April 16 2006 13:37 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Preparedness of the armed forces to fight in an environment created by nuclear, biological and chemical war will come up for review at the Army Commanders conference beginning tomorrow (Apr 16, 2006).

The week-long conference would witness for the first time the country's top nuclear and biological scientists sharing India's preparedness in nuclear and chemical warfare technologies with the army's top brass.

Post Operation Parakaram, during which the country faced veiled nuclear threats from its adversary, both DRDO and the army have come up with nuclear bomb-proof battlefield command posts with simultaneous efforts to equip frontline and other strategic forces with anti-radiation clothing. Weapons systems have been adapted to operate in such environment.

Efforts to turn an infantry soldier into a 'robotized fighting machine' as well a review of operational situation in Jammu and Kashmir and the northeast will also come up for discussion, according to an army spokesman here.

The review assumes significance in the context of snow melting in the high Himalayan passes in Jammu and Kashmir making them vulnerable to infiltration by terrorists from across the Line of Control.

"Army's top brass will hold comprehensive discussions on future infantry soldier as a system (F-INSAS), as envisaged in Infantry Vision 2020," an army spokesman said. The F-INSAS aims at equipping a frontline infantry soldier with radar and sensor-guided helmets, night vision and GPS system.

Equipping the infantry with such a mechanism would turn a soldier into a system to relay information and battle statistics to rear formations, army sources said. The US and the NATO forces are also working on similar systems for infantry soldiers.