Representative image.

NEW DELHI: The Army now wants to harness the potential of artificial intelligence (AI) to bolster its combat lethality and survivability, even as the 13-lakh force is testing its new integrated battle groups (IBGs) geared towards mobilising fast and striking hard across the borders.

With China taking huge strides in the ongoing global race to develop AI-powered weapon and surveillance systems for futuristic wars, with a special focus on developing lethal autonomous weapon systems (LAWS), India obviously does not want to miss the bus.

“China is employing AI (basically simulation of human intelligence processes by computers) in the defence arena in a big way. It has zoomed ahead. But we can catch up because we have the required IT (information technology) brains in India. Our aim is to examine how AI can help us become more lethal and effective in our war-fighting in a flexible and dynamic battlefield,” said South Western Command (SWC) chief Lt-General Alok Kler, speaking to TOI on Friday.

The government has also formulated a road map to make India “a significant power” in the use of AI in the military domain, with defence minister Rajnath Singh announcing this week that “25 defence-specific AI products” will be developed by 2024.

But that is in the future. With the use of AI for military applications being largely restricted to policy formulations and task forces in the country till now, the Army wants its field formations to get well acquainted with the “disruptive technologies” in the arena.

With the new self-contained IBGs largely centred around T-90S main-battle tanks, along with a mix of infantry, artillery, air defence, signals and engineers, the SWC will be holding a two-day brain-storming session with top military officers, scientists and IT experts on “AI in mechanised (tanks and infantry combat vehicles) warfare” at Hissar next week.

The Army is trying to significantly enhance the “shock and awe’’ capabilities of its mechanized forces, which includes 63 armoured corps regiments and over 35 mechanized infantry battalions, with both strategic mobility and enhanced firepower required for rapid offensive thrusts into enemy territory.

“Robotic warfare will take a long time as far as the subcontinent is concerned,” said Lt-Gen Kler, adding that the focus for now is on using AI to enable faster and “assisted” decision-making, shortening the sensor-to-shooter loop with swift target identification and recognition, “predictive maintenance” of the mechanised forces and the like.

“It’s not possible for human brains, even if many are clubbed together, to collate and synthesize feeds and inputs from multiple sources like radars, drones and satellites in real time. The aim is to reach the right decision at the right time with the help of AI. This technological edge over the adversary can give huge payoffs,” said Lt-Gen Kler.

