'Army has moved to AI': Maj Gen Anand (Retd) on India's defense technology, data and self-reliance | Exclusive

The Indian Army is increasingly turning to artificial intelligence (AI) to process and utilize its vast volumes of data, but its immediate task is to organize this information into actionable training sets and deploy the right AI models, according to Maj Gen Pawan Anand (Retd), Director, Center for Emerging Technologies for AtmaNirbhar Bharat (CETANB), United Service Institution of India (USI).

“The military has moved into AI and is working with massive amounts of data. It’s classifying that data and feeding it into the right training sets to feed its algorithms and use the right models for field deployment,” Anand told LiveMint in an exclusive interaction on the sidelines of the Defense Tech Summit organized by the Center for Emerging Technologies at USI.

Anand said the broader push on artificial intelligence and digital engineering aims to speed up the development and deployment of defense technologies while helping the armed forces keep pace with rapidly evolving technology.

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, Anand said.

“Digital engineering helps us create virtual models of equipment that we want to introduce to the military. We can put physics into these virtual models and test them in a simulated battlefield environment,” he said.

Anand said this approach can shorten development timelines and ensure that physical prototypes are more sophisticated from the start.

“Digital engineering enables faster ideas, faster development and faster field deployment of equipment. This is essential if we want to keep pace with rapidly changing technologies and maintain an edge over our adversaries,” he said.

Anand said India’s traditional document-based defense procurement system, while stable and predictable, may struggle to keep pace with rapidly changing technologies.

“Our goal is to move the entire acquisition process to a much faster plane and ensure that we keep up with technology,” added Anand.

The Indian Navy has already started using digital engineering in some of its projects, although these efforts remain relatively isolated, Anand said. “The next step is to move this effort to a much broader level across the armed forces,” he added.

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AI needs computation, connectivity and data

Anand identified three key pillars for building effective military AI capabilities: computing power, connectivity and data.

“Artificial intelligence has three pillars: computing, connectivity and data,” he said.

He said efforts to build high-computing capabilities have also highlighted gaps in semiconductor capacity.

“When we wanted high computing power, we found we didn’t have the chips, so we started looking at developing our own chips. Once you have the computing power, you also need connectivity and data,” Anand said.

Operation Sindoor and the Technology Plant

Anand said Operation Sindoor demonstrated how technological capabilities can provide an operational advantage, while stressing that India will need to continue to advance as adversaries acquire new technologies.

“Operation Sindoor showed how a better level of technology can give us an operational advantage. The natural progression now is to move forward, stay ahead and ensure that we advance faster than the pace of technological development and faster than our adversaries can throw at us,” he said.

Anand also said that Pakistan will learn from the operation and continue to acquire new technologies, including support from countries such as China and Turkey.

“Pakistan would also learn a lesson and continue to acquire technology. The support it has received from China and other developed countries, including Turkey, means that its technological capabilities could also sharpen. Hence, we need to maintain our own technological edge,” Anand said.

Make in India and defense self-sufficiency

Anand said the Make in India initiative has helped India localize several capabilities that were previously difficult to develop domestically. “We have started to develop technology and manufacture it locally, and that helps address some of the gaps that we saw in the equipment of the armed forces earlier,” he said.

However, Anand distinguished self-sufficiency from complete self-sufficiency, saying India will continue to depend on global supply chains for some capabilities.

“We cannot be completely self-sufficient – no one else is. Our supply chains will have to depend on someone or the other, but we have to be self-sufficient. We have to ensure that the right supply chains are in place so that Make in India continues to lead us to self-sufficiency,” Anand said.