Army Chief for tapping Artificial Intelligence, Big Data for Defence forces

Hyderabad: Army Chief General Bipin Rawat here on Sunday stressed the need to focus on incorporating Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Big Data computing into the Armed forces' system, saying the northern adversary of the country (China) was spending "huge money" on this technology.

Addressing the valedictory function of the National Conference on 'Self-Reliance in Defence Manufacturing' here, he also said rapid advances in technology necessitated incorporation of the industrial sector into Defence manufacturing.

"Apart from guns and rifles, we will see lot of non-contact warfare happening. Future wars are going to be fought in cyber domain," he said.
It was important to start understanding the relevance of AI and Big Data computing and how to incorporate this in into the defence system, he said.

"Our adversary on the northern border (China) is spending huge amounts of money on Artificial Intelligence and cyber warfare. We cannot be left
behind.

It is time for us to also focus on AI and on Big Data Analytics rather than just keeping it confined to mere definitions," the army chief noted.
He further said the defence forces needed equipment that were capable of deep viewing adversaries' territories.

"This equipment could either be based on satellites... which fortunately we have some but are not adequate to keep continuous surveillance and other means like drones, unarmed vehicles, remotely piloted vehicles.. this is the need of the hour."

Noting that the Centre was opening two Defence industrial corridors in Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, he said, "rather than becoming an import industry we should become export oriented based on case-to-case because we do not want our technology to fall into our adversaries' hands."

Emphasising the importance of preparedness for future dimensions of warfare, General Rawat said the Indian armed forces have to be prepared whether it was defence of borders, combating proxy wars, terrorism, insurgencies or other internal security disturbances.

"We have to understand that we have disputed land borders on our northern frontiers, partially unsettled borders on our western sector. So, we don't see peace on the horizon anywhere in the near future." Therefore the armed forces have to be ever prepared by imbibing new technologies, keeping pace with the advancements in warfare, he said.

Observing that India imported approximately 60 per cent of its defence needs--weapons, equipment and ammunition, Rawat said, "The time has come to start looking at inwards because whatever we have imported has come with huge costs... we cannot be import-dependent continuously."