"The exercise of the nuclear option by India helped remove potentially dangerous strategic ambiguities in the region," Singh told military commanders at a five-day brain-storming meeting in the Indian capital.

"In fashioning our nuclear doctrine we have been guided by the policy of minimum nuclear deterrence and no first use, underlined by restraint and responsibility."

India in May 1988 detonated a range of nuclear weapons including a thermonuclear bomb and then imposed a unilateral moratorium on further testing. The exercise prompted archrival Pakistan to carry out tit-for-tat atomic blasts the same month.

India, which has fought three wars with Pakistan since 1947, insists the acquisition of weapons of mass destruction was aimed at thwarting the military ambitions of larger Asian neighbours.

The prime minister urged his top commanders to study the US-led war in Iraq but said India's military, which has a 14-billion-dollar annual budget, must be practical while giving shape to a new combat doctrine.

"Technology and strategy are mutually interactive," Singh said in an obvious reference to Iraq.

"Our military doctrine must have the inherent flexibility to imbibe technological changes and adapt them to our strategic needs (but) in this process availability of resources has to act as a reality check," he said.

Singh said the Iraq conflict would also force other countries to rethink military strategies.

"Recent events have put an enormous strain on the principles of the United Nations charter and international law and on the fundamental ethic of consensual multilateralism as the fountainhead of international legitimacy to regulate and constrain the use of force in world affairs," he said.

India's million-plus army desperately needs modern artillery and armour. The air force, the world's fourth largest, regularly loses aircraft and pilots in crashes due to shortages of spares.

The 137-ship navy purchased a Soviet-era aircraft carrier in January but needs one more to expand its bluewater reach in the Indian Ocean.

Officials say the commanders will piece together the war doctrine which is likely to recommend the handover of control of nuclear-capable missiles from the government to the military and to call for an expensive upgrade of the navy.

The doctrine is also likely to deal with the formation of smaller strike groups, codenamed 'Lethal Platoons', modern measures to battle insurgencies and the acquisition of hardware.

Officials said the commanders will also consider proposals, made last week by the first-ever conclave of former army chiefs, for a special force to tackle Islamic militancy in Kashmir.

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