Poor battery life of hand-held thermal imagers (HHTI) is restricting the army’s ability to conduct night operations in Jammu and Kashmir.

Smoke billows out of a building during a gunbattle at Chadoora in Badgam district on Tuesday AP

Reduced battery life of HHTI was hampering operations during poor visibility conditions and affecting the morale of soldiers, a new army report has revealed.

“Also, as most of the infiltrations along the Line of Control take place during night/ poor visibility conditions, limited life of HHTI hampers the operations,” said a report prepared by the Army Design Bureau (ADB), headed by deputy army chief Lieutenant General Subrata Saha. The report has highlighted 28 problems that the army wants to fix swiftly with the help of the private sector.

The report said the battery was supposed to last three to four hours but had a life of barely 20 minutes due to extensive use by soldiers.

“The problem is further compounded due to extreme climatic conditions, it said. The men rely heavily on H HT I for carrying out operations in poor visibility conditions and night.

The report said soldiers were forced to carry additional batteries during operations, adding to their load and reducing efficiency.The army is looking at finding indigenous solution stoat least 78 problem areas – 28 listed in the new report and another 50 spelt out in an earlier volume.

Improving the situational awareness of tank commanders during night has also been identified at a priority in the report. “While manoeuvring on the battlefield, veryoften, tankshaveto move with their cupolas closed down.

Under such conditions and especially at night, the tank commander find sit very difficult to observe all around and can lose orientation rapidly,” the report said. It highlighted the need to provide commanders with 360degree panoramic viewing devices for improved situational awareness.