In the past three decades, gradual upgrades were carried out in weaponry, tanks, helicopters, bullet-proofing, night sights, thermal imagers, artillery guns, assault rifles, etc. What has been undertaken in the past two-three years is a radical transformation. Sample this: the artificial intelligence (AI) centre at the Military College of Telecommunication Engineering (MCTE), Mhow, has over 140 deployments in forward areas with the active support of industry, deep-tech start-ups and academia.
The 749-km-long Line of Control (LoC) with Pakistan and also the 3,448-km-long Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China are now embedded with world-class surveillance systems that provide live feed to commanders. AI is enabling remote target detection as well as classification of targets — man or machine, armed or unarmed. All AI-oriented machines are tuned for interpretation, change and anomaly detection, and even intrusions at the LAC and the LoC, besides reading drone footage. These projects are part of the 12 AI domains identified by the National Task Force of Technology.
The Army, with support from the National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS), established the Quantum Lab in 2021 to transform the current system of cryptography — algorithms used to code data and voice for secure transmission. Among several usages, secure transmission is the key to battle as all major equipments use radio waves to communicate.
As quantum computing advances, it is expected to break into existing encryption methods, hence the next step is ‘cryptography after quantum’ — that is, algorithms capable of protecting sensitive information from the enemy’s quantum computers.
Earlier this week, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) of the US released a technology roadmap on how to protect data and systems as quantum computing technology advances.
Series of tech additions
The Army’s arc of technology is vast, right from the cutting-edge quantum computing to 5G communications to the basic surveillance quadcopter that can operate in the Himalayas to provide real-time information in a 10-20 km radius.
Lt Gen Sanjay Kulkarni (retd), former Director General of Infantry, says, “The collusive hybrid threat is a reality. India has to build deterrence while continuing to build our conventional capabilities.”
Last month, the MCTE announced an MoU in collaboration with the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras (IIT-M), to have a 5G test-bed for Army’s operational use, especially along the borders.
The force is getting 550 units of augmented reality (AR) based head mounted display (HMD) for Rs 135 crore. The HMD is to be used by the crew of the ground-based air defence systems tasked to bring down incoming enemy missiles, copters and drones. The AR will display target data from new generation radars under all-weather conditions.
To fight terrorists hiding in residential areas, the Army is to arm the Rashtriya Rifles with 185 ‘robotics surveillance platforms’ which can provide real-time intelligence inputs and also lob grenades, all the while being remotely operated from 200 metres. This means, in future, the robotic platform will in some cases make the initial breach into terrorist positions.
For the tank and mechanised formations, the Army is looking at 750 autonomous combat vehicles (ACVs) and has ordered a feasibility study for two variants. One variant will do surveillance for transfer of real-time images and videos to control stations with a range of 10 km. Its logistics version needs to carry 1,000 kg of load — fuel and ammunition, and both need to be battery-operated for silence. New back-pack carried secure ‘software defined radios’ with a range of 300 km are also on the list.
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