India's defense modernization emphasizes AI and big data integration across military platforms, enhancing surveillance, autonomous systems, and decision-making, which underscores the importance of establishing international ethical guidelines for military applications.

According to Indian Army Land Warfare (IALWD) doctrine, “The Indian Army will continue to modernize to fight in a technocentric combat environment which is likely to emerge in futuristic conflict scenario due to revolution in military technologies like Artificial Intelligence”. The integration of AI in Indian tri-services doctrine is also an indication of the increasing importance accorded to AI by the Indian military leadership. Till now, Indian armed forces had leveraged their indigenous information technology base and the high-end technological support, from allies such as Russia and USA, to develop and integrate semi-autonomous weapon systems like drones, remotely piloted vehicles (RPVs) and Information Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) systems into their military doctrine. Now, with the emergence of AI as a frontier technology, that is impacting human life as no technology has done before, the Indian military has also started an ambitious indigenous AI integration program.

with the emergence of AI as a frontier technology, that is impacting human life as no technology has done before, the Indian military has also started an ambitious indigenous AI integration program.

Future warfare belongs to AI-enabled Multi-Domain Networked Warfare (MDNW). Revolution in Military Affairs (RMA), in the past, was an umbrella term for the modern warfare, having elements like dominant manoeuvre, precision warfare, focussed logistics and information warfare. The aim was to dominate the battle space through the fast tempo of operations, complete domination of the information loop, precision targeting, and speed of manoeuvre, enhanced through technology enabled precise logistics. The dominance of the battlespace and the Observe, Orient, Decide, Act (OODA) loop were the logical concomitants of the RMA-driven warfare. OODA loop was a concept introduced by US Air Force Colonel (Later General) John Boyd who had analysed the performance of Soviet MiGs and U.S. Sabres, and found that the Soviet MiG fighters, despite faster speed could not match Sabre F-86s, due to the better situational awareness of the Sabre pilots, which was made possible due to better design of the Sabre fighter jet’s canopy. The Sabre’s pilot could see the approaching MiG fighters before the Soviet pilots could see the Sabre especially from flanks, thereby attaining information dominance and an ability to take decision about launch of missile or firing of guns. Boyd concluded that the Sabre pilots could observe early, reorient their attack posture before the approaching Soviet MiGs, and decide on a strategy and attack before the Soviet pilots could complete their decision-making loop to act.
Domination of OODA loop has emerged as an important battle winning factor on modern battlefield where command, control, communications and computer, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (C4ISR) capabilities have come to define the flavour of the warfare and the length of OODA loop. The networked battlespace of modern battlefields gave rise to the enhancement of electronic bandwidth, increased processing speed, and improved data fusion capability. The human limitation in information processing and data fusion was first addressed by semi-automated systems and is being done now through fully automated AI systems, capable of processing data as well as taking independent decisions to modify battlefield tactics. The age of AI has started ushering in a post-RMA revolution.
Before expatiating on Indian military’s AI use, it is important to understand the fundamental difference that AI is making to the human world and the way that world would wage warfare in future. Yuval Noah Harari writes in Homo Deus, “In the past the power lay with those with information. In future it would lay with those who could remove information to get clarity. We are creating Artificial Intelligence without beating the natural stupidity.” According to Harari, organic life took 4 billion years to evolve into dinosaurs. Progress on a similar scale, albeit within a shortened timeframe of 10 years, is now possible due to projected developments in AI over the next decade. He describes AI as a technology unlike anything mankind has seen before.
It is a technology that could think for itself and take independent decisions modifying warfare strategies and objectives independent of human control. The astounding advances in computing through quantum computing, and better data management through blockchain technology are taking the mankind into an age where human agency and a super intelligence sans consciousness and empathy will pose hitherto unencountered risks. Hariri, cautions that the mankind would need new rules for International Humanitarian Law (IHL) in order to wage war with the help of AI. The capability of reining in the AI driven munitions through a “Kill Switch” mechanism needs to be developed by human beings before letting loose the AI in on the battlefield.

Domination of OODA loop has emerged as an important battle winning factor on modern battlefield where command, control, communications and computer, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (C4ISR) capabilities have come to define the flavour of the warfare and the length of OODA loop. 

The control ceded to AI by the mankind is fraught with dangers. In coming decades, the process of natural selection might get replaced by an “Intelligent Design” created by a different creator called I Cloud, supported by AI. In 200 years from now, we might see entities as different from us as we are from neanderthals due to speed of innovations and ability of AI to create new life forms. The combination of AI and bio engineering in less than 100 years might create new mental and physical forms of human beings decoupling intelligence from consciousness. To deal with such inorganic life forms shaped by intelligent design, we need a cosmic world view with obligation towards global community instead of narrow nationalism. With AI enabling Google’s chatbot “Bard” to write million stories like Hemingway, it could similarly enable a Dr. Strangelove like scenario, deciding to obliterate humanity with gay abandon. It is for this very threat that the mankind needs its social scientists and ethicists to think of better ways of aligning AI with human needs.
A short peep into the shape of future warfare under AI's sway is essential for developing some perspective about its nature and destructive potential. Future warfare will be a combination of both contact and non-contact strategies. In non-contact strategies, the use of AI to deny services and degrade the economic potential of an adversary might be the preferred objectives. These could be achieved through AI enabled espionage, subversion and cyber attacks. Modern cyber attacks follow the “Cyber Kill Chain” process, a term coined by Lockheed Martin that includes phases like reconnaissance, weaponization, delivery, exploitation, installation, control, and counteraction. Pakistan has experienced hacking incidents involving its Microsoft software, specifically Hyper-V, which was used by the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR). These attacks led to data theft and website crashes. Imagine an AI-driven hacker penetrating our cyber defenses to compromise our communications, aviation control, or energy systems. If a hacker could reverse the movement of our turbines, the power plants would shut down, causing a ripple effect on the transmission systems.
Countries like the USA are also using AI for the development of Autonomous Weapon Systems (AWS) and stealth platforms to target their adversaries using non-contact strategies without the risk of losing human lives. Programs like Pegasus are being used to develop autonomous aircraft capable of operating without human assistance. Weapon systems with better battlespace awareness and the ability to modify strategies to cause optimal damage are being developed, embedding AI into their operations. The U.S. Army is using “Ask Sage,” an AI generative platform for military tasks, as is China, through the use of the Baidu GPT system. A foretaste of this was the use of the AI-enabled Lavender system, originally proposed in a book by Israeli Brigadier General YS, titled “The Human Machine: How to Create Synergy Between Human and Artificial Intelligence that Will Revolutionize Warfare.” The idea was to generate kill lists by identifying human targets from intelligence data fed to AI and then allowing strikes with minimal human control. According to Yuval Abraham, Israeli soldiers using these systems would only take 20 seconds to scrutinize the targets before giving the go-ahead for these AI-generated strikes.
According to sources, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) decided that to kill a junior Hamas operative through the AI-driven Lavender system, 15-20 civilian casualties would be permissible. In the case of senior Hamas commanders, the killing of 100 civilians as collateral damage was permitted. This draconian decision resulted in hundreds of civilian casualties. Under a directive, the term "human target" was used for members of Hamas's military cadre who were cleared for an attack to be killed inside their homes, along with their entire families. The originator of this idea was the commander of the elite Israeli unit 8200 in the current Gaza conflict. A similar use of AI was made in another system called “Where’s Daddy?” which was used to track and identify potential Hamas and Islamic Jihad leaders.
The defense collaboration between the USA and India has been formalized through well-known foundational defense and security agreements like the Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement (BECA), the General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA), the Logistics Support Agreement (LSA), and the Communications and Information Security Memorandum of Agreement (CISMOA). The USA is also assisting the Indian military’s AI integration efforts through fellowships offered to Indian data scientists and AI experts. According to Dr. Nivash Jeevanandam, the Indian defense sector is using AI technologies for “training, surveillance, cybersecurity, UAVs, advanced military weaponry like LAWS, autonomous combat vehicles, and robotics.” According to the same source, Indian Defense Minister Rajnath Singh unveiled 75 AI-enabled technologies at a Defense Symposium in 2022. India has planned to spend USD 12 million per year on military-related AI research through the Defense AI Project Agency’s (DAIPA) forum, and the armed forces are set to spend USD 50 million per year on AI projects.
The integration of AI and big data in the defense sector is the new thrust of Indian military modernization, focusing on surveillance platforms and cameras, unmanned aerial vehicles and surveillance drones, lethal autonomous weapon systems, autonomous armored vehicles, data management and ISR, pattern recognition and targeting (inspired by the Israeli Lavender system), and simulator training. India has established a task force for the integration of AI in the defense sector, which published its report titled “Strategic Implementation of AI for National Security and Defense” in 2018. In 2019, they established the DAIPA, and a council was formed under the names of DAIPA and the Defense AI Council (DAIC). The DAIC is chaired by the Defense Minister and includes the three service commanders, the National Cyber Security Coordinator, and the Defense Secretary. The DAIPA is chaired by the Secretary of Defense Production and includes members from the Defense Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), academia, the military, and technology experts. While the council provides policy direction, the DAIPA oversees the planning and execution of AI projects in the defense sector. The Indian Chief of the Defense Staff (CDS) has been made responsible for preparing an AI strategy as a strategic roadmap for AI development and operationalization.
India is focused on the integration of AI into military platforms like Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicles (UCAVs) and UAVs at the DRDO’s Centre for AI and Robotics (CAIR). The Indian Army is upgrading the Heron I and II and Searcher UAVs while trying to enhance the capability of the indigenously developed UCAV Rustom. Medium Altitude Long Endurance (MALE) surveillance Heron UAVs are being improved with AI for better performance at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) to counter Chinese forces. A task force, headed by Tata Chairman Chandrasekaran, is working on the indigenously developed UCAVs Rustom and Ghattak, in collaboration with the DRDO and the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO). This private-public task force is also developing a Multi-Agent Robotics Framework (MARF) to produce robotic vehicles in support of the Indian Independent Brigade Groups (IBGs), operating in a proactive operations mode. Indian Air Force (IAF) has an estimated number of 5 UAV squadrons and is making use of Harpy and Harop UCAVs through Israeli help for targeting Chinese detection, tracking and surveillance radar systems in Suppression of Enemy Air Defense (SEAD) mode. Indians have also acquired Predator B drone systems (General Atomics’ MQ 9 Reaper) from USA and is also working on integrating these platforms with AI. The Indian Armed Forces are also working on improved data fusion and mining through cloud computing capabilities to create AI-enabled “Decision Support Platforms,” such as the Command Information and Decision Support System (CDIS). AI is also being integrated into air defense through AI4AD and into the maintenance programs of the Army through an AI predictive maintenance system.
The Indian Navy is working to integrate AI into its shore-based UAV squadrons for better surveillance and traffic control. It is also inspired by the U.S. Navy’s development of Low-Cost Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Swimming Technology (LOCUST). The Unmanned Surface Vehicles (USVs) launched from submarines for surveillance tasks can also deploy UAVs for aerial reconnaissance, proving useful in providing data inputs for better situational awareness. This situational awareness is further enhanced through AI-driven Decision Support Systems on naval platforms, which gather, fuse, and collate information from multiple sensors using algorithms that improve the accuracy of the data through machine learning. The Indian Navy is procuring these AI capabilities with the help of the U.S. The Indian Navy is also working on AI-enabled Anti-Submarine Vehicle Systems, such as the U.S. Anti-Submarine Warfare Continuous Trail Unmanned Vessel (ACTUV), to enhance its Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) capabilities.
In addition to the above, the DAIC and DAIPA in India are focused on the need to degrade the efficacy of Pakistan’s armored components through the targeted use of UCAVs and drones. Tactical concepts like swarming are being studied for the use of AI-enabled massed drones. The swarming drone tactics being developed by the U.S. military, in which individual drones can communicate with one another to quickly assemble and move toward a target like a swarm of insects, is a novel AI-supported concept being emulated by the Indian Army. The use of AI in Air Defense Management systems, in tandem with BMD systems like the S-400, has the potential to give India an edge in air defense, degrading Pakistan’s conventional deterrence. Since there is no international consensus on the legality of laws, the conformity of AI-based weapon systems to International Humanitarian Law (IHL) could pose a problem in the future. AI-driven platforms that can select targets independently and attack without human control are killers devoid of human agency. When humans are removed from the decision loop, humanity is also removed from the process. The "Martens Clause," a binding rule of IHL, and Article IV of the Hague Convention require the application of the principles of humanity and human agency in combat situations.
The military use of AI by India poses a clear and present danger to Pakistan’s security. Pakistan needs to work towards establishing an ethical restraint regime at the international level to mitigate the growing threat of the military use of AI. Additionally, Pakistan must develop AI-competent human resources and national policy and project implementation structures to keep pace with the militarization of AI imposed by India.

The author holds a PhD from the National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST) and is the Director of Research at the Islamabad Policy Research Institute (IPRI).
E-mail: [email protected]

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