AI Impact Summit: Army used locally made AI software along LAC

Lt Gen Dinesh Singh Rana, Commander-in-Chief, Strategic Forces Command, has said India successfully used AI-powered prediction tools to anticipate and foil an unprecedented Chinese attempt along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Arunachal Pradesh.

Recounting his tenure commanding a Corps responsible for security along the LAC in Arunachal Pradesh, Lt Gen Rana said the locally developed, low-cost AI software system had helped detect early warning indicators of a Chinese military build-up in a disputed sector.

Meanwhile, the Army today hosted a seminar with the industry where Lt Gen Rajiv Kumar Sahni, Director General, the Corps of Electronics and Mechanical Engineers (EME), highlighted the opportunities for the industry. The Army needed AI for a sharper operational precision by converting large volumes of sensor data into actionable insights, predicting emerging threats, he said.

A seminar was held on ‘Engineering Support for the Indian Army: Smartising the Kill Chain’. In the military nomenclature, a ‘kill chain’ refers to a structured, step-by-step process used to identify, track, target and neutralise an enemy target. Discussions were structured around four core themes, including improving of legacy platforms through sensors, robust data, analytics and AI.

Since the Army is in the process of upgrading older weapon systems into intelligent, data-enabled platforms, Lt Gen Sahni said there was a need to accelerate engineering support for advanced analytics and predictive interventions. He also mentioned how AI was needed for UAVs and robotic platforms. “This can secure a decisive edge in future warfare,” he added.

The Army wants AI in detection of anomalies and analytics for deployment in operational areas. Biswajit Biswas from Tata Elxsi, Sreeram Ananthasayanam from Deloitte India, and Prof Sashikumaar Ganesan from the Indian Institute of Science, shared insights on how AI can be applied for critical platforms.