No.
344 June 2022
Artificial
Brigadier Sanjeev Chopra is former
Senior Research Fellow at the Centre
for Contemporary China Studies
(CCCS) in Ministry of External Affairs.
His focus areas pertain to China's
Intelligence in Military, Grey Zone/ Non-Contact
Warfare, Strategic Nuclear Issues,
China-Pak Collusion, Gilgit-Baltistan,
QUAD, and India-China Bilateral
Military Operations Relations.
Key Points
“The Peacetime Soldier's principal task is to prepare
effectively for the next war. In order to do so, he must • Weaponisation of AI for strategic
advantage in space, cyber, air, land
anticipate what the next war will be like. This is a and maritime domain is likely to
difficult task that gets continuously more difficult”. accelerate the tempo of operations
and simultaneously impact the force
—Franz Uhle-Wettler survivability in both offensive and
defensive operations.
Introduction • Autonomous helicopters that can be
directed with the help of a smart
The commercial and military applications of phone are currently under
development in US, Europe and
artificial intelligence (AI) systems have come to China. Autonomous ground vehicles
the forefront in recent times. Certain modern such as tanks and transport vehicles
are under development worldwide.
militaries have already incorporated the military
• In January 2018, the Artificial
application of AI in fields like logistics support, Intelligence Task Force suggested the
creation of a National Artificial
cyber defence, robots for medical evacuation and
Intelligence Mission as a nodal
integrated surveillance. However, weaponisation agency for coordinating Artificial
of AI for strategic advantage in space, cyber, air, Intelligence related activities in India
with a budgetary allocation of approx.
land and maritime domain is likely to accelerate INR1200 crores over five years. It
the tempo of operations and simultaneously identified ten domains for AI
development in India, including
impact the force survivability in both offensive
national security.
and defensive operations. Therefore, military
strategists who envision 21st Century war fighting will have to re-think about new war
fighting techniques which revolves around AI. This brief aims to analyse the impact of
The Centre for Land Warfare Studies (CLAWS), New Delhi, is an independent Think Tank dealing with national
security and conceptual aspects of land warfare, including conventional & sub-conventional conflict and terrorism.
CLAWS conducts research that is futuristic in outlook and policy-oriented in approach.
Website: www.claws.in Contact us: [email protected]
CENTRE FOR LAND WARFARE STUDIES (CLAWS): ISSUE BRIEF
Artificial Intelligence in military operations and its manifestations upon the Indian Armed
Forces.
Artificial Intelligence in Military Operations: A Global Perspective
The future of AI and robotics in military operations is directly proportional to the ability of
engineers to design autonomous systems that demonstrate independent capability of
knowledge and expert based reasoning. Currently, there are no such autonomous systems
in use— most ground robots are tele-operated that is a human being is still controlling a
robot from some distance away.1
Globally, a significant amount of R&D is being done on autonomous systems. Incremental
progress in such systems is taking place in air, ground, on water and underwater vehicles in
many countries. Autonomous helicopters that can be directed with the help of a smart phone
are currently under development in US, Europe and China. Autonomous ground vehicles
such as tanks and transport vehicles are under development worldwide. In view of these
developments, many now consider AI and Robotics as having the potential to trigger a new
‘Revolution in Military Affairs’ (RMA) as these systems continue to achieve increased levels
of sophistication and capability.2
In addition to autonomous system alone, there is a need to leverage the power of AI for
increasing the combat capability of the current force. This could lead to many dividends like
using image recognition from video feeds to identifying imminent threats, anticipating supply
bottlenecks, automating administrative functioning etc. Such applications would permit force
re-structuring with smaller staffing levels replacing bulky organisations. Artificial Intelligence
thus has the potential to help the defence forces improve their teeth-to-tail ratio. Another
focus area on the evolutionary route is to develop autonomous weapons which can be
termed as ‘human-machine teaming’ wherein machines and humans work together in a
symbiotic relationship. This approach envisages harnessing speed and power of a machine
to human judgment, combining machine precision and reliability with human robustness and
flexibility, as also enabling computers and humans helping each other to think, termed as
‘Cognitive Teaming’.
US Perspective
US has invested heavily in development of Precision-Guided Munitions, Stealth Weapons,
Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) systems to counter any adversary’s
numerical superiority and improve its technology base. As part of its ‘third-offset strategy’,
the US have reportedly dedicated US$18 billion, as part of its its future defence programme,
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on AI. A substantial portion of this amount has been allocated for robotics, autonomous
systems, human-machine collaboration, cyber and electronic Warfare.
Russian Perspective
Both China and Russia have highlighted their intention to pursue AI development vigorously
to retain the global balance of economic and military power. The Russian Military is
developing AI based robots, anti- drone system, border protection system and cruise
missiles.
Chinese Perspective
China is giving huge impetus to AI enabled autonomous systems. The country has
embarked on development of AI enabled cruise missile systems with high level of accuracy.
This is thought to be a response to the ‘semi-autonomous’ long range anti-ship missile
expected to be deployed by the US in the Pacific region. High level support for R&D in
robotics and unmanned systems has led to a myriad of institutes cropping up within China’s
Defence Industry.
Indian Perspective
With overwhelming requirements of equipment modernisation and other operational &
logistical challenges, AI and robotics paradigm is yet to become a key component and a
driving force in doctrinal thinking and perspective planning of the Indian Armed Forces.
However, limited use of certain Commercially-Off-The Shelf (COTS) equipment, to enhance
security, has been introduced in some formations.
Pakistan Perspective
Pakistan is expected to leverage its strategic relationship with China to obtain such niche
technologies.
Manifestation of Artificial Intelligence in the Indian Armed Forces
India is comparatively at a nascent stage with respect to its R&D efforts for AI specifically in
the defence arena— its lag in the field is glaring when viewed with respect to the size of its
economy and defence needs. This is especially so, when compared with the state of
advancement of its adversaries or even some of the smaller countries. India’s current AI
industry is estimated to be US$ 180 million annually.
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In January 2018, the Artificial Intelligence Task Force suggested the creation of a National
Artificial Intelligence Mission as a nodal agency for coordinating Artificial Intelligence related
activities in India with a budgetary allocation of approx. INR1200 crores over five years. It
identified ten domains for AI development in India, including national security. In domain
specific analysis, it has further listed possible areas for AI based systems in national security
vis. autonomous surveillance and combat system, adaptive communication system, cyber
attack mitigation and multi-sensor data fusion based decision making system. The report has
an array of recommendation that includes setting up of Centre of Excellence, AI test bed
laboratories for developers, creation of an inter disciplinary data centre for interpretation of
data, drafting of standards and skill development. In February 2018, the Department of
Defence Production (MoD) constituted a Task Force to study the future use of Artificial
Intelligence in defence applications. Certain flagship projects which are in the development
stage are as under:
• AI for Net Centric Operations (AINCO).This includes suite of technologies for
creation of knowledge base, semantic information reception and handling, interface
reasoning and event correlation.
• Family of Robots. The concept is to develop an entire family of Robotic Combat
Vehicles which use common navigational software and control interfaces which can
automatically sweep paths through minefields, pop up smoke to conceal advance,
jam enemy transmissions and take potshots with anti-tank missiles. Similar
technology is being developed for surveillance and reconnaissance application.3
• Centre for AI and Robotics (CAIR). Currently, the Indian Armed Forces are
closely working with CAIR on projects dealing with Multi Agent Robotics Framework
(MARF)— Snake, Legged Robot, Wall Climber and Unmanned Ground Vehicle
(UGV), are some types of robots that are being developed. It has also developed
Network Traffic Analysis (NETRA).
Suggested Focus Areas
The Indian Armed Forces need to focus more on a ‘bottom-up’ approach of automation
followed by ‘intelligentisation’ of supporting services such as medical, inventory
management, logistics, repair & maintenance, professional military education, autonomous
surveillance & combat systems. Some uses of AI and other niche technology within the
Armed Forces are as under:
• Project Beehive. The Corps of Electronics and Mechanical Engineers (EME) have
already started to work on ‘Project Beehive’ that aims to serve as a centralised real
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time database for all equipment repairs being carried out by almost 2000 Army
workshops across the country as well as terrain related criticalities.4 To facilitate
‘smart functioning’, AI should be employed thereby eliminating the need for human
entry of data and creating models of ‘predictive maintenance’ that would replace
current ‘forensic’ and ‘preventive’ maintenance. Machine vision can be utilised in
EME workshops for undertaking repairs of vehicle in conjunction with Natural
Language Processing (NLP) modules like Virtual Assistant for Data Entry and
Recording (VADER)5, that converts a mechanic’s real time verbal description of his
work into text, extract relevant information from it and update it into Beehive cloud.
• Medical Healthcare. The Army Medical Corps’ (AMC) centralised database―
Dhanvantr, has an automated data entry system thereby allowing all military
hospitals on the network to access each other’s patients’ medical history. Artificial
Intelligence can be integrated in the AMC to reduce the load on its limited persons by
means of automating reading of X-rays & reports and improve the quality of medical
health care by being holistically ‘preventive’ rather than ‘prescriptive’. A number of
health startups like Pre- Cognitive (cloud based Electro Cardio Grams {ECG}
monitoring company)6 and Sig Tuple (intelligent screening solutions using Artificial
Intelligence powered analysis of visual medical data) are good models to follow. A
smarter use of AI diagnostic tools will reduce the rush and facilitate faster reaction
during the ‘golden hour’. Data gained from these diagnoses can also be correlated
with terrain, demographics, palate, and lifestyle of an individual soldier, and
thereafter create a customised health plan.
• AI Against Cyber Attacks. AI based algorithms can be designed to auto detect
malwares in network and facilitate effective counter measures against them. Artificial
Intelligence can also be used to write code against malignant software.
• Application in Line of Control (LoC) Environment. An important feature of life on
the LoC is the uncertainty of ceasefire violations (CFVs). Casualties are result of
unpredictable firing and lack of institutional memory due to frequent turnover of units.
An integrated cloud based AI system can effectively eliminate these shortcomings by
compiling data from multiple sensors (audio and visual) including intelligence reports
from higher formations and pattern of CFVs, calibre of weapons used, approximate
ammunition used by the adversary (counting the gaps in firing using audio sensors)
and likely timings of firing.
• Use of Unmanned Platforms. AI enabled robots can act as force multipliers in
defusing Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) in counter insurgency/ counter
terrorist (CI/CT) areas. The Indian Armed Forces can learn from the experiences of
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the US Army in using robots such as Talon, iRobot, Packbot7 in Iraq and
Afghanistan. Use of ‘robotic mules’ is one such example. Under Ground Vehicles
(UGVs) can be used, as part of smart convoys, during conventional operations.
• Offensive Use of Niche Technology. Combining AI based solutions with unmanned
system can actually produce potent and dynamic responses short of conventional
war. However, on the LoC there is a need to bring in the paradigm of short and swift
war; COTS drones and quadcopters, equipped with grenades, can be used for
devastating effects. Drone swarming operations have the potential of overwhelming
the enemy defence and troop concentrations especially during short and swift wars.
The same AI, which detects patterns and correlated data, can also be used to control
drones in real time and drop explosives for maximum destruction.
• Casualty Evacuation. Autonomous vehicles may be deployed for the purpose of
casualty evacuation during operational scenarios. Timely evacuation of injured
soldiers will result in saving more lives on the battlefield.
• Wargaming. Manual war gaming may have been the traditional method since ages,
but it might no longer serve its true purpose. The battlefield today is full of
uncertainties owing to various new concepts like proxy war and asymmetric warfare.
Computerised wargames are excellent means to simulate all possible scenarios and
conditions of war through analysis of force ratios, multiplication factors, move tables,
random numbers, staff checking etc.
• Information Dominance. The wars of today will be fought purely based on
intelligence and surveillance. Although, the Indian Army has realised their importance
and is looking at concepts like Network Centric Warfare (NCW) for future wars,
however, NCW in itself is not sufficient to master the tact to dominate the domain of
information and control its flow. In order to reduce our own Observe Orient Decide
Act (OODA) loop, we need to realise that one of the major bottlenecks is the deciding
authority itself. Thus, the use of Al in assisting commander in the complex process
and time taken to take a decision may be reduced drastically.
Challenges in Implementation of Artificial Intelligence Based Systems
A networked warfare wherein humans and machines can form tailor made units/ teams for
specific tasks, needs to be evolved. However, one must take a look at the challenges that
the Army currently faces while implementing such changes as well as the shortcomings
associated with over reliance on data.
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• Systems Approach to Warfare. A holistic approach regarding technology in general
and emerging technology in particular, needs to be nurtured. Though steps have
been taken to involve the academia and private players, all these actions are
happening as per the old paradigm wherein major focus is on platforms and attrition
warfare. Even procurement of platforms has generally been piecemeal and behind
the technology curve. A systems approach which focuses on networked ‘system’ i.e.
humans and platforms, either in conjunction or in standalone mode, forming part of
an inter connected web of task specific nodes, is a much better and required mode of
approach warfare rather than seeing it from either a human or equipment centric
view. It obviates major deficiencies in individual platforms and divides (weighted)
cognitive and coercive load between humans and machines. The concept of war
fighting within the Indian Armed Forces is based on arms and service specific silos.
The Department of Military Affairs (DMA) needs to play a major role in first breaking
these silos, then integrating them based on both equipment and technology, and not
merely allocating resources from the services and distributing them across
geographical commands.
• Data Driven Organisational Culture. There is a need to create a ‘data driven’
culture in the Indian Armed Forces which lays emphasis on standard of protocols for
collecting, collating and storing data. Though, some work was done in this field
during the ‘Digital Army’ phase, the applications created and run on the Army Data
Network (ADN) are unfortunately incompatible with each other and therefore cannot
interact. This has resulted in massive data being stored in silos by various
Directorates of the Indian Armed Forces. Applications such as Army Mobile Aadhar
Application Network (ARMAAN), Computerised Inventory Control Project (CICP) and
Human Resource Management Suite (HRMS) as test bed softwares for AI, are not
suitable in their current form. India also needs to improve in the field of narrative
warfare by overcoming its institutional challenges. The Indian Armed Forces need to
embrace a more flattened structure of command and control for the next war which
can accomplish its objective in a more efficient manner.
• Human Intuition v/s Machine Logic. AI cannot replace intuitive human decision
making. While the prime task of the armed forces is to win wars, it is a fact that wars
are emotional ventures. While requiring precision in their conduct, wars are primarily
political in nature. As a result, their overall conduct should never be left to machines
or algorithms. Artificial Intelligence, Big Data, Internet of Things (IoT) are being used
in much more mundane and pragmatic real world applications in the military than
what is envisioned in experimental pamphlets.
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• Human - Machine Interface. There is a tendency of taking humans ‘off the loop’ in
autonomous systems. While the idea of replacing tired and judgmental human beings
from the decision matrix and replacing them with untiring machines, may sound
enticing, however, the reality is much more complex. The downing of an Iran Air
Flight 655 by USS Vincennes in 1978 and shooting down of an RAF Tornado by a
Patriot Missile Battery in 2003, are all reminders that humans need to be involved
somewhere.
• Ethical Issues. Advantages of unmanned system includes alleviating battlefield
stress thereby providing stability, sustainability and longevity. However, using
autonomous system or robotics, purely for combat, is an issue which needs a huge
public debate especially for ‘Lethal Autonomous Weapon Systems’ (LAWS). One
may be tempted to assume that LAWS removes the weakest link in war i.e. the
fallible human being. Besides questions of ethics, this mentality raises two important
issues ― ending the nature and character of war as it is understood and secondly,
removing the question of using violence to subdue the adversary by raising costs.
• Vulnerabilities of a Networked System. A fully networked system is also vulnerable
partially due to its complexity. Electromagnetic interference and tracking ability are
some of the likely issues that will be faced. Passage of information may lead to
swamping effect in network wherein every entity is fighting the battle of the
bandwidth.
• Privatisation of Warfare. The most obvious repercussion of proliferation of
technology is the rise of non-state actors. Availability of COTS drones, hacking
software and other implements, enable individuals to challenge the state’s monopoly
on violence. Edward Snowden’s revelations regarding the companies’ (i.e. Facebook
and Google) culpability in passing huge amounts of data to the National Security
Agency (NSA) under domestic and international surveillance programme such as
PRISM and STELLARWIND are a grim reminder that, technology can be misused
against any nation state in the future.
Way Ahead
Although, India and the Indian Armed Forces are late entrants into the field of AI and other
emerging technologies, however, we can always learn from others and devise much more
robust and responsive AI system. India has already joined the 14 member Global Artificial
Intelligence Community and hosted its first ever virtual summit on Artificial Intelligence called
‘RAISE’ (Responsible Artificial Intelligence for Social Empowerment) in October 2020. The
solution lies in first strengthening existing capability, and concurrently creating new ones to
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harness the fourth industrial revolution (4IR). The Indian Armed Forces have to focus on few
core areas as enumerated in the succeeding paragraphs.
• Cyber Security. This is a much used yet barely understood term especially
concerning military system. Cyber security is a holistic concept involving two major
components ― offensive and defensive. While ‘offensive’ looks into pre-emption,
‘defensive’ protects leakage of information. The current methods of air gapping
computers, disabled Universal Serial Bus (USB) ports and mandatorily installing
cryptography software, within units, are only one part of cyber security. The Indian
Armed Forces are nearing the universal acceptance of Linux based indigenous
Bharat Operating System Solutions (BOSS) for its day to day functioning, and is a
great step towards security. The offensive part needs to be equally capable of
mounting attacks on adversarial network. Once the system and network are secure,
the data functioning can be implemented.11
• Data Generation. Data generation forms the bedrock of most emerging
technologies. The current model of functioning, needs to be more conducive to allow
innovation in the methods of generating data. With an assortment of modern and
legacy equipment, there is a deliberate need for slowly and steadily transcribing all
forms of data into digital format. All this needs to be done under an overall common
architecture.
• Inception to Action. Indian Defence Procurement has generally followed technology
instead of being in sync with it. Due to bureaucratic red tapes and inordinate delays,
most of the procurement is piecemeal and adhoc resulting in voids in capability
development. The entire cycle of inception-conception-validation-scaling-action
(ICVSA) must be expedited and completed in time.
• Focus on Specialisation. The current format of officers spending two to three years
in a ‘specialised’ appointment is not suitable for completing a project in niche
technology field like AI. While the creation of appointments for interacting with IITs,
academia and the industry is laudable, there are two major lacunae― firstly, the
appointed officers are neither subject matter experts (SMEs) nor necessarily
technologically or public policy qualified. Also, once an officer is involved in a project,
a timeline of two to three years is not sufficient enough to complete the same. The
idea of an incubator can be created at the tri-services level and called the ‘Centre for
Armed Forces Innovation’ (CAFI) and should consist of officers who are SMEs in
emerging technology or with a technical bent of mind. The tenure of officers should
be sufficient enough to ensure ownership and timely completion of the specific
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project. The major aim of this organisation should be to convert theoretical ideas
regarding emerging technologies into workable projects, and coordinate with the
academia and Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO). The Centre
for Armed Forces Innovation (CAFI) should also scout for talents in colleges for both
short term and long term projects and offer sponsorships. Liaison can be done with
MNCs and big corporate houses for unpaid internships of short and medium
durations, so as to learn data mining, labelling/ annotating, cleaning and classifying.
• Independent Audits. A non-partisan think tank can provide advisory services and
keep tabs on the progress of project recommended by the CAFI and approved by
higher authority. Defence AI Project Agency (DAIPA) should expand its mandate and
encompass other emerging technologies namely Block Chain, Internet of Things
(IoT), Big Data Analysis and Deep Learning. DAIPA should also coordinate with
DRDO’s Centre for AI Research (CAIR) to ensure that products are made as per
requirements of the Armed Forces within deadlines and thereafter complete the
ICVSA cycle. There should be adequate latitude within both CAFI and DAIPA to
abandon ‘non-functioning projects’.
• Online Courses. Online courses are being offered by top universities like Harvard
and Stanford through Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) on websites such as
Coursera, Edx and Udemy. Subscription to such courses can be taken by the
institution and then offered to selected personnel with interest and acumen in this
field.
• ‘Cloud’ for the Indian Armed Forces. The Indian Armed Forces can develop their
own cloud. Currently, some applications of the Indian Army are being run from the
Indian Government’s cloud service― Megh Raj, while the rest are either run from
local clouds or Army Headquarter. All these disparate datasets need to be
synchronised with the cloud of Indian Armed Forces which will be possible with the
operationalisation of the Network for Spectrum (NFS) project and creation of multiple
data centres. This will seek to integrate the data of entire MoD, including the three
services, classified and unclassified data, segregated by strong encryption and
accessed through biometric embedded data. This will revolutionalise strategic
decision making at the highest level by making available a comprehensive picture of
the battlefield and providing a top oversight during the conflict. In peacetime, it could
be used for training algorithm based on both simulated and actual data.12
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Conclusion
Artificial Intelligence as a technology can find applications in any field of life. As the fourth
largest standing Army of the world, and a rapidly developing nation, it is our responsibility to
understand and promulgate this technology. We must equip our soldiers with cutting edge
technology— AI technology can act as a force multiplier on the battlefield by providing real
time inputs and assist decision making process of the commanders at all levels.
End Notes
___________________
1“Researching the Interactions of Human and Computer Decision-Making”, Humans and Autonomy Lab.
Available at hal.pratt.duke.edu. Accessed on 28 April 2022.
2“Autonomous Weapons: An Open Letter From Ai & Robotics Researchers”, Future of Life Institute. Available at
www.futureoflife.org/open-letter-autonomous-weapons/. Accessed on 01 May 2022.
3 Available at www.breaking.defense.com. Accessed on 01 May 2022.
4 Available at www.ecomonictimes.indiatimes.com. Accessed on 03 May 2022.
5 Available at www.devpost.com. Accessed on 03 May 2022.
6Sriram Sharma, “Here’s why India is likely to lose the AI race”, Factor Daily, 18 August 2017. Available at
www.factordaily.com/artificial-intelligence-india. Accessed on 15 May 2022.
7PW Singer, Wired for War: The Robotics Revolution and Conflict in the 21st Century, New York.: Penguin
Books, 2011. ISBN 0143116843.
8Available at www.darpa.mil.Accessed on 17 May 2022.
9Available at www.orfonline.org/expert-speak. Accessed on 15 May 2022.
10Available at www.claws.in. Accessed on 15 May 2022.
11 Available at www.reuters.com/article. Accessed on 15 May 2022.
12 Available at www.gatewayhouse.in/national- cloud-ai-defence. Accessed on 15 May 2022.
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The views expressed and suggestions made in the article are solely of the author in his personal capacity and do not have any
official endorsement. Attributability of the contents lies purely with author.
CENTRE FOR LAND WARFARE STUDIES (CLAWS)
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Tel.: +91-11-25691308, Fax: +91-11-25692347, CLAWS Army No. 33098; Email:
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