Drawing lessons from the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, the Indian Armed Forces are pushing for adoption of new technologies. From focusing on Artificial Intelligence (AI), Quantum Labs, Industry 4.0, Machine Learning, Neural Networks and Deep Learning algorithms, Robotics and much more are gradually being introduced and adopted to ensure that the Indian forces are more tech savvy and geared to meet new threats and ready for future wars.
To mark 75th anniversary of India’s Independence, the defence minister Rajnath Singh on Monday inaugurated the first ever Artificial Intelligence in Defence (AIDef) symposium and exhibition of AI-enabled solutions.
In his address after inaugurating the AIDef, defence Minister Rajnath Singh said “India needs to work on the artificial intelligence mechanism “extremely carefully” and it must be ready to face a legal, ethical, political, and economic upheaval that may follow due to this technology.
According to him, work on AI needs to be done carefully so that the technology does not get out of control in the near future. “This technology needs to be used for humanity’s progress and peace. In his address he urged the industry, Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), DPSUs, academia, as well as those involved in developing such technologies to be careful and to also keep in mind the AI’s ethics, and dangers. Stating that the progress of artificial intelligence cannot be stopped, he added, “When a new technology brings a huge change, its transition period is also as huge and serious.
He also said that this technology can bring in huge change and there is a need to be ready to face political, economic upheaval as well as legal and ethical fallouts. He further said the society takes time to adjust itself when a new technology comes. The defence sector is undergoing changes due to AI, as AI is also being used to train the soldiers.
Talking about Russia being a technologically advanced country which is progressing continuously in the field of Science & Technology, the defence minister said “India believes in the principle of ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’ (the whole world is one family). It has no intention to rule the world.” Adding, “We must develop the capability of our AI technology so that no country can even think of ruling us.”
Today the minister launched 75 defence products which are powered by AI at the event, and some of these are already in use by the armed forces and the rest are in the process of being deployed.
IAF & Technology
The Indian Air Force (IAF) under the aegis of UDAAN (Unit for Digitisation, Automation, Artificial Intelligence and Application Networking) has inaugurated the Centre of Excellence for Artificial Intelligence at Air Force Station Rajokri, New Delhi. The Centre was inaugurated by Air Marshal Sandeep Singh, Vice Chief of the Air Staff (VCAS) on Saturday.
It plans to undertake proactive steps to embed Industry 4.0 and Artificial Intelligence (Al) based technologies in its war fighting processes. These applications are being developed in-house and in coordination with leading academia, MSMEs, PSUs who have expertise in AI. For handling all aspects of Analytics, Machine Learning, Natural Language Processing, Neural Networks and Deep Learning algorithms, a Big Data Analytics and Al Platform has been commissioned in the Al Centre. And for handling the high-end compute requirements that will be undertaken by the latest Graphical Processing Unit powered servers.
Technological Leap by the Indian Army
Post Galwan incident in June 2020, Indian Army has been making conscious efforts to incorporate latest technology in the service and has been focusing on setting up Quantum Computing Labs, Real-time application of artificial intelligence in border areas; robotic surveillance platforms, 5G communications, air defence systems which are backed by augmented reality, automated drone detection systems and unmanned combat units for tank formations and more. All these new technologies are being adopted to ensure that the enemy is not able to hack into encrypted data.
In the last couple of months the Eastern and Northern Commands of the Indian Army have been holding major technology symposiums with the industry. And the focus has been to identify the requirements of the forces and to help in customising the operational requirements.
Earlier this summer, the focus of the ‘North-Tech’ symposium was on AI, Virtual Reality, Fire Power, Disruptive Technologies, Fire Power, and Augmented Reality and other security solutions.
A similar ‘East-Tech’ was conducted last week, and according to an official statement, the meeting was to identify cutting-edge technologies which are critical for dealing with operational challenges in the eastern theatre. Focused on ‘Battlefield Transparency’ – the Eastern Command was interested in identifying the latest solutions in unmanned warfare, chemical-biological-radiological-nuclear (CBRN) Defence, nano-technology, communication systems, electronic warfare, and information systems.
Recommendations made by the Task Force of Ministry of Defence
Headed by N Chandrasekaran, Chairman, Tata Sons, it has recommended the following:
A corpus of Rs 1,000 crore to be provided each year for next 5 years in Defence Budget to support AI activities;
Organising AI training courses for all defence personnel;
Integrating and embedding AI strategy with defence strategy;
Creation of a framework to work with industry;
And, establishment of a high-level Defence AI Council (DAIC) and a Defence AI Project Agency (DAIPA).
Indian Army & Technology
Financial Express Online reported in 2021, that the Indian Army established the Quantum Lab in 2021 to transform the current system of cryptography — algorithms used to code data and voice for secure transmission. This was set up with the support from the National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS). The biggest advantage of having such a system in place is to ensure secure transmission during conflicts as radio waves are used by all major equipment to communicate.
Based on the information available in public domain, world-class surveillance systems that provide live feed to commanders are already embedded along the 3,448-km-long Line of Actual Control (LAC) as well as the 749-km-long Line of Control (LoC) with Pakistan. These systems are relaying real time live feeds to the commanders making their job much easier as it helps to identify the enemy – armed or unarmed, man or machine.
How does AI help?
All the systems that are embedded are AI-oriented machines which are tuned for change and anomaly detection, interpretation, and have the ability to detect intrusions at the LoC and LAC as well as reading drone footage. All these projects are part of the 12 AI domains which have been identified by the NSCS.
In recent times, the Indian Army has adopted cutting-edge quantum computing to 5G communications, deployed basic surveillance Quadcopter. These Quadcopters can operate in high altitudes and have the capability to provide real-time information in the radius of 10-20 km.
Source: financialexpress.com
