In a trial believed to be a world first, a cross-section of soldiers have allowed themselves to be micro-chipped as part of a study into how new technology may be harnessed to revolutionise the bureaucracy of personal administration.

All the troops involved in the project are volunteers.

Impetus for phase one of the Army Personnel Rationalisation Individual Listings project came from the acclaimed Passports for Pets scheme, from which much of the technology has been adapted.

The trial, which began at the start of this month, is to run for six months. Should it be the success which project managers anticipate, the whole of the Army could be micro-chipped by 2010.

Col. M. W. Jones, late RRW, told Soldier: "The chip, which is implanted in the neck, would have many uses, one of which would be to replace the current ID card. This would protect the identity of those in the Armed Forces and prevent lost ID cards falling into the wrong hands."

Every military base would have a facility to "swipe" military personnel in and out of bases, operational theatres and so on.