General Upendra Dwivedi,the Chief of the Indian Army,spoke about Artificial Intelligence (AI) after Passing Out Parade of the 150th Course at the National Defence Academy (NDA) in Pune,and main message was pretty clear: battlefield is getting too fast for old-style decision making only.
He said,“Emerging technologies are becoming indispensable for faster decision-making and effective management of military operations,” and that line itself explains mood of whole address . Modern warfare is not just soldiers,vehicles and weapons anymore . It is data,drones,sensors,signals and decisions happening almost at same time.
And this is where AI comes in.
General Dwivedi talked about how modern battlefields are producing huge amount of information,and military personnel have to process it at very high speed . He brought up OODA cycle—Observe,Orient,Decide, and Act—and explained that AI can help make this process quicker when everything is moving fast.
His point was simple but serious . “When the velocity of warfare is very high,you need additional support within your resources to make decisions faster,” he said . That means commander may not have luxury of long discussions when multiple things are happening together across battlefield .
Few things standing out from what he said:
- AI technologies like Small Language Models (SLMs) and Large Language Models (LLMs) can help in faster information processing .
- Drones are becoming bigger part of battlefield,both for attack and defence.
- Managing huge military resources now needs far more automation.
And tbh,drones part feels especially important rn . General Dwivedi said,“You need counter-drone equipment,and you need to apply your own drones,” which shows how both sides of drone warfare are now becoming normal requirement . You cannot just have drones,you also need systems to stop enemy drones.
He also said,“Rationalisation of resources and application of resources become much faster in today's world,” and that is not small thing ah . In simple words,Army has to know what to use,where to use and how fast to use it,without wasting time or resources.
But at same time,this whole AI-in-warfare discussion feels slightly uncomfortable also . Faster decisions can save lives,but faster systems also mean less margin for human delay,less room for confusion,and maybe more pressure on commanders sitting with screens full of data .
And as Indian Army moves deeper into AI,drones and automation,one question keeps hanging there… how much control should remain with human judgement when battlefield itself starts moving faster than human mind?
