Research Fellow, Manohar Parrikar IDSA, Lt Col Akshat Upadhyay’s article ‘Virtual and Augmented Reality and Warfare - Fighting War as a Computer Game?’ has been published as part of ORF's special series on future warfare, on 12 February 2024.
VR and AR systems have proliferated globally and have important uses in the military and civil domains. However, there are certain challenges that need to be met with before these new technologies can be considered safe and utilisable for the Indian Armed Forces, says Lt Col Upadhyay.
First Person View (FPV) drones, combined with artificial intelligence (AI), are the next evolution in warfare as they offer a cheaper and scalable alternative to precision weapons.
The Indian government has rightly given a clarion call for India to be a Chip Maker rather than a Chip Taker. The requirement of semiconductors in India's national security domain has become critical since they form the substrate of every important activity in the country - from the economic to the military domain.
Research Fellow, Manohar Parrikar IDSA, Lt Col Akshat Upadhyay’s article ‘AI As A Multi-Domain Enabler For The Army’ has been published by Ananta Centre, on 21 November 2023.
The Indian Army has started exploring AI as an enabler in various domains. Publicly available information, however, is very limited in this case. As a result, the analysis here is based exclusively on four major sources: newspaper reports, official websites and resources, speeches by military authorities and selected peer-reviewed articles published in the Defence Science Journal issued by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), says Lt Col Upadhyay.
The military applications of Virtual Reality include those relating to combat training and simulation.
UCAVs can impose a major decision dilemma on the adversary and act as a part of a combined arms offensive in the air, in their role as ‘loyal wingman’ for manned fighter jets.
The suggestions being offered to rein in the advancements in AI need to move into the domain of regulation, to ensure that the unwarranted effects of these technologies do not spill over onto the modern battlefield.