Army to equip its special forces with GPS wrist watches in J&K

Army is all set to equip its special forces with Global Positioning System (GPS) wrist watches to help them in operations against militants in Jammu and Kashmir.

With the aim of giving special forces a technological edge over militants, Northern command headquarters had recently floated tenders for the purchase of high-tech multi-utility GPS wrist watches, defence sources said.

In the first phase, 120 such GPS watches would be procured for special forces and sealed bids - both technical and commercial have been invited from the bidders in this regard. Dozens of GPS devices have been recovered from infiltrating militants during encounters along the Line of Control (LoC) during e past year, they said.

"Militants are frequently using GPS devices for infiltration and reaching their guides along LoC. The watches are used by militants for navigation", the sources said. The GPS wrist watches sourced by the army will have 20 channels all-in-view tracking with a large LCD and 80000 tracking points.

"The watches will gives forces an edge to identify terrian and plan their strategy for operations", the defence sources said.