India Army increases use of artificial intelligence

Maj Gen Pawan Anand (Retd), Director of the Centre for Emerging Technologies for AtmaNirbhar Bharat (CETANB) at the United Service Institution of India (USI), reveals the Indian Army’s growing reliance on artificial intelligence (AI) to manage and leverage its extensive data resources. The Army is focused on organizing this data into structured training sets to power algorithms and deploy AI models effectively in the field, addressing immediate challenges in data classification and model selection.

Anand said the broader push towards AI and digital engineering aims to accelerate the development and deployment of defence technologies while helping the armed forces keep pace with rapidly evolving technologies. Digital engineering allows the armed forces to create virtual models of military equipment and test them in simulated battlefield environments before moving to physical prototypes.

This approach can reduce development timelines and ensure that physical prototypes are more refined from the outset.

Anand emphasized that digital engineering enables faster ideation, faster development, and faster fielding of equipment into the field army. This is essential to keep pace with rapidly changing technologies and maintain an advantage over adversaries.

India’s traditional document-based defence acquisition system can struggle to keep pace with rapidly changing technologies. Anand said the aim is to move the entire acquisition process into a much faster plane and ensure that the country keeps pace with technology.

The Indian Navy has already started adopting digital engineering in some of its projects, although these efforts remain relatively isolated. The next step is to take these efforts to a much wider level across the armed forces.

Anand identified three key pillars for building effective military AI capabilities: computing power, connectivity, and data. Efforts to build high-compute capabilities have highlighted gaps in semiconductor capacity.

Anand said that with redundancy in connectivity, well-classified data and training sets, and high-compute capability, India will be on its way to becoming a global leader in AI in the military. The country has recently released its policy document on the ‘Governance of AI in the Indian Army.’

Operation Sindoor demonstrated how technological capabilities can provide an operational advantage. Anand stressed that India would need to continue advancing as adversaries acquire new technologies.

Pakistan would learn from the operation and continue acquiring new technologies, including through support from countries such as China and Turkey. Anand said that is why India needs to maintain its technological edge.

The Make in India push has helped India localize several capabilities that were previously difficult to develop domestically. Anand said that developing technologies and manufacturing them locally is helping address some of the gaps in the armed forces’ equipment.

Anand distinguished self-reliance from complete self-sufficiency, saying India would continue to depend on global supply chains for some capabilities. The country needs to ensure that the right supply chains are in place so that Make in India continues to take it towards self-reliance.