ARMOURED COMBAT'S BRIGHT FUTURE

The caveat will, however, be that we need to master Artificial Intelligence (AI) and its linked technologies, including situational awareness. Most importantly, just like the current AI Large Language Model (LLM) disruptors in the USA and China, we too must indigenise it, making AI an Atmanirbhar (self-sufficient) issue using all means, including jugaad. We also need to integrate it into our defence ethic; re-look at our existing, supposedly obsolete defence platforms with our own AI upgrades in mind even as the human interface remains in command to achieve desired end state. RAJ MEHTA plays a disruptor, using our past learning and present defence outlook to suggest the way ahead?

- RAJ MEHTA

AI and cyber expert Maj Gen PK Mallick, VSM is a recessed, hugely multi-skilled Signals veteran, a one-time mentee who is the founder-webmaster of http://www.strategicstudyindia.com. This site has a staggering 2.77 crore global readership with an average of 30,000 daily ‘hits’ from developed, developing and enemy nations. The site is not just his unique creation but a quiet statement of his technical grasp and passion; perhaps the world's only self-run web-mastered military site on diverse war -fighting aspects. PK’s also a writing addict who's authored a dozen odd books and hundreds of articles. Once my promising student at the Defence Services Staff College in the early 1980s, he has in emerging aspects of high technology learning and application across combat arms, services become a Guru; mentor. I am learning, unlearning and relearning through his helpful liberal outlook. I see him as a combat asset, not as a combat support adjunct.

It is Mallick’s prescient assertion that the ancient proverb: The early bird catches the worm was never more applicable to India’s defence forces upgrade needs than it is today. We are on a concerted Atmanirbharta (self-sufficiency) drive and are learning on several counts, including budgetary support, to get our defence preparedness act together, albeit slowly and with some diffidence. This must change radically in real-time. Why? This article seeks to answer this overwhelming question. Not the least, the article questions what Atmanirbharta means or could mean; and suggests its intriguing threads and their integrated pathways.