Military chiefs are looking very carefully at proposals to allow women to fight in the Army's front line, the new head of the armed forces has said.

Women already occupy combat roles on ships and in planes, and female soldiers in the artillery may find themselves nearer the front line than the infantry, Admiral Sir Michael Boyce told the BBC's Today programme.

The new Chief of the Defence Staff struck a markedly different tone from his predecessor, Sir Charles Guthrie, who was outspoken in his contempt for what he saw as political correctness.

Sir Michael said the forces could move with the times as long as it did not damage their ability to fight.

He said: "We are the best in the world at what we are invited to do and, whatever changes we make, we want at the end of it to be able to carry on doing as well as we do now."

Close combat

"Women of course are already in the front line; they fight in our ships, they are flying our aeroplanes and they are in 70% of the army.

"There is sometimes a misconception that they aren't already in the front line - they very much are.

The Army is currently carrying out an assessment of the suitability of women for close combat fighting.

A panel of experts will submit a report, A Study of Combat Effectiveness and Gender, to ministers next year.

The Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) has said the quantity and quality of recruits could be improved sharply if more posts were open to women.

Currently, there are 16,500 women serving in the armed forces, only 8% of the total, though the number of potential posts open to women has improved from 47% to 70% in the last two years.

But women are not allowed to drive tanks, serve in the front line infantry, on submarines or as divers.

Mixed regiments

Defence Minister Geoff Hoon has indicated his willingness to allow women to serve on the front line and has challenged opponents to come up with a good reason why they should not be allowed to do so.

Opponents believe a high number of female front line casualties would be bad for Army morale and unacceptable to the public.

A change was signalled last year when the government announced combat trials and mixed regiments for women.

Sir Michael has taken over from the most flamboyant and outspoken Chief of the Defence Staff in recent times, Sir Charles Guthrie.

Sir Charles warned Britain may never be ready to accept women soldiers in front-line combat fighting roles as he retired from the post last week.

He used his final day as the UK's most senior military officer to issue his strongest warning yet about the effects of allowing women to serve in the infantry and the Royal Armoured Corps.

While he acknowledged the bravery of individual women he questioned the effect their presence would have on units to operate effectively in war situations.

He said: "We have got the greatest armed forces in the world. I am not going to muck about with that. We want to be quite careful not to hazard what we have got."