He will even ride aboard a revolutionary robotic "mule" of sorts.

The goal, according to designers, is to equip soldiers with the high-tech equipment by sometime between 2008 and 2015.

Jean-Louis "Dutch" De Gay, project engineer for the Objective Force Warrior -- an army program designing equipment for the soldiers of the future -- said that the primary design consideration was weight.

Soldiers such as those currently deployed in Afghanistan carry up to 47 kilos (105 pounds) of equipment, including items such as cold-weather gear, nuclear-biological and chemical gear, De Gay said.

"What we are trying to do at the very fabric uniform level is consolidate all those systems into one so we lessen the overall bulk and weight of the individual soldier," he said, noting that the goal was to bring the weight down to a mere 20 kilos (45 pounds) by 2008.

As for uniforms, future infantrymen will be protected from the cold as well as nuclear, biological or chemical threats.

Bad weather is the main source of injuries, said De Gay, a former member of the elite US Army Rangers.

The answer: a uniform based on outfits designed by NASA that allow astronauts to regulate their own temperature. The army system involves tiny tubes woven into the clothing that move either warm or cold air, depending on the outside temperature.

"And on the exterior, we also have built-in chemical-biological layers in the actual uniform system," De Gay said.

Medical sensors incorporated into the system will give battlefield medics monitoring data from a distance information on the soldier's heart rate, body and skin temperature.

"It gives us indicators as to the overall health of the individual," De Gay said. "We've even gone so far as we have caloric monitors, as well as overall body heat monitors that allow us to know roughly how much energy he's expended, so we know whether he's dehydrated" or needs food.

Jerry Darsch, who heads the group's combat feeding program, said that researchers are looking into feeding soldiers through the skin via a contraption about the size of an extra-thick Band-Aid. The device would have a tiny computer that "would determine what micro-nutrients are becoming low in the warfighter," said Darsch.

It would then "automatically administer selected micro-nutrients, meaning vitamins and minerals, and certain nutro-ceuticals that prove themselves to be effective in terms of maintaining high levels of ... performance."

Already developed is a reinforced helmet built of kevlar-type material that integrates night-vision goggles, cameras, infra-red targeting, biological and chemical alarms, a Global Positioning System, an electronic method to distinguish between friends and foes, and of course radio communications.

The GIs of the future will also carry computers resistant to falls and equipped with re-chargable batteries that last 72 hours.

Estimated cost for equipping soldiers with the latest gadgets: 30,000 dollars each.

In the Afghan campaign, some US special forces commandos armed with sophisticated weapons charged into combat on horseback next to anti-Taliban mujahadeen fighters.

But in the future, US infantrymen could be going into combat aboard a 250-kilo (550 pound) robotic "mule." Soldiers could travel up to 80 kilometers (50 miles) per hour aboard this wheeled machine, also designed to follow them at a distance carrying heavy equipment when the soldiers travel on foot.

The vehicle, equipped with a silent hybrid electric-fuel engine, will also serve as a power generator and water generator and purifier, and come equipped with a cannon or a white phosphorus smoke launcher.

The top-line "mules" will even come with a mini-drone, a small pilotless plane that will enable soldiers to view their environment from the sky, De Gay said.

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