The Indian armed forces have been building on its “AI spine” with an eye on future warfare, Defence Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh told NDTV.
The top defence official revealed that “some attempts” to infuse AI were made during Operation Sindoor, India’s counterstrike against terrorist havens in Pakistan and Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir in retaliation to the deadly Pahalgam terror attack last year. “There were some attempts made during Operation Sindoor to provide the army with the additional compute capacity that they require for AI applications, that process has now moved much further ahead,” the Defence Secretary said at NDTV Defence Summit in Delhi.
“We are building an AI spine for the armed forces. The Navy is doing it on its own. Army is in the process of tying up industry partners.
We are working with the National AI mission to make it available,” he said. The top official said at one point they debated the idea to tie up with a global partner, someone like Palantir, a data analytics firm, but then shelved the idea, considering the sensitivity. “There was a temptation at one stage to going, going with global partner, somebody like Palantir or somebody else, but the view internally has been that it’s too critical,” he said.
“Given the volume of data required to be shared, that it is essential that this is an area where we do it ourselves, and we are well on the way to tying up with Indian industry partners. Project Maven, an AI-backed system built by Palantir for the Pentagon, is one prominent example of modern technology in the war. The Defence Minister also highlighted initiatives aimed at promoting advanced technologies in defence, including the establishment of the Defence AI Council.
To bring in AI spying for our armed forces,” he said. Earlier in the day, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, speaking at the same event, said with advanced technologies like AI, quantum, and hypersonic, “our armed forces are continuously strengthening their capabilities and preparedness across every dimension”. He said DRDO had established a research centre to promote indigenous quantum capabilities and a policy framework had also been issued.
