The softwares are being jointly developed by the Indian army and the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), said Lt Gen Vijay Oberoi, General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Army Training Command.

In an interview to the UNI, he said that a software, `Shatranj', was recently developed to train men at battalion level and is currently being used for training purposes.

Another software, `Sangram', will also be at the disposal of the Army Training Command very soon, to train officers and men at division levels. By next year, a comprehensive war game at core level will be used by training institutes of the army.

It will help in the army's cost--cutting exercise, as the officers and men can directly learn on computers, and the field exercises and training which involve costlyequipments could be reduced.

Lt Gen Oberoi said that the army and DRDO had carried out extensive research in developing these war games and the software gives the cadet a feel of the real battle-field. Instead of carrying out the exercise at the training field and using weapons, it can be carried out at the click of a mouse.

``Tomorrow's war will be an IT war,'' he said, adding that the army has already undertaken an extensive computerisation programme, which is being carried out in a phased manner. He said that the aim for the next millennium is to have all officers and men, computer literate. This is one of the aspects of a two--pronged attack to make people IT literate, he said.

Another aspect is to have its own intra--net. Since the internet is not foolproof, the army is going for an intra--net to spread its network. In the recent past, the army has also acquired several multi--media softwares.

Talking about the satellite technology, he said that recently there have been talks with the IndianSpace and Research Organisation (ISRO), about the defence forces jointly owning a satellite.

Lt Gen Oberoi, who is also the Colonel of the Maratha Light Infantry (MLI) regiment, was here to attend the 11th post--war reunion ceremony at the Maratha Light Infantry Regimental Centre, which is the last in this century.

He said that in the next millennium, all the army establishments and the camps will be connected with computers, and the army, command and divisional headquarters connected with the Wide Area Network (WAN) as well as the Local Area Network (LAN) for local connectivity.

General Ved Prakash Malik, Chief of Army Staff, has taken keen interest in the computerisation programme and is preparing the army to enter the 21st century, where officers and men will be computer literate.