The IIIT Delhi this week signed a memorandum of understanding with the Indian Navy, where they will provide training in artificial intelligence to the Naval officers. According to a report in a national daily, these officers will be encouraged to pursue Mtech with a specialisation in AI from IIIT Delhi.
Reportedly, the officers will be selected for the programme via a process which has been mutually agreed upon both by the Indian Navy, as well as IIIT Delhi. The institute would also be creating supernumerary seats for the Indian defence personnel.
We are elated to announce that we have signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the @INDIANNAVY1 for academic collaboration. The MoU will facilitate M Tech programme for Naval Officers with specialisation in Artificial Intelligence. pic.twitter.com/VAYflq1qWw
— IIIT Delhi (@IIITDelhi) June 11, 2019
A Naval officer told the newspaper, “In line with multistakeholder Task Force report on ‘Strategic Implementation of AI for National Security and Defence’ and Govt of India/Ministry of Defence order on implementation of AI in Armed Forces, IN has been constantly pursuing Capacity Building as well as Projects in the field of BDA and AI. In furtherance of these initiatives and to enable expertise to build up in this niche area, an MoU with IIIT Delhi has been concluded to facilitate M Tech programme for Naval Officers with specialisation in AI.”
Earlier this year, the Naval Science and Technological Laboratory (NSTL) had organised the NSTL – Academia Meet with the theme Artificial Intelligence for Naval Systems. A gathering of the academia and the Navy had proved to be an ideal platform for deliberation and discussion on AI and its application in defence systems, with specific emphasis on naval systems.
Milind Kulshreshtha a C4I expert, had said, “AI will help in identifying potential threats unambiguously and immediately. It will also help the command team make informed decisions faster and rapidly detects and evaluate potential threats removing anomalies.” He also added that AI is inherently designed to integrate itself into existing warship equipment suits to optimise their exploitation.
However, there are things that can stand in the way of technical progress in the Indian Navy:
- Lack of Data science talent internally
- Lack of AI initiatives for the Navy
- Undeveloped eco-system for enterprise-level exploitation
