New Delhi, Oct. 14: The top brass of the military will be meeting here next week for brainstorming sessions aimed at making the armed forces leaner and discuss possible new equipment for counter-insurgency operations in Jammu and Kashmir and in the Northeast.

A combined conference of commanders of the army, the navy and the air force will be addressed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and defence minister Pranab Mukherjee. The finance minister, the home and external affairs ministers are also expected to speak to the commanders at the two-week conference.

The combined commanders’ conference is held once a year but senior commanders of the armed forces meet at least twice a year in Delhi.

Army commanders are expected to dwell in some detail on the law-and-order situation in Jammu and Kashmir. The army, which was battling on two fronts in the state ? by being deployed along the Line of Control and also in counter-insurgency operations ? is now vested with the responsibility of giving aid to the populace after the earthquake.