An integrated intelligence backbone is key for India’s AI-driven defense. It transforms disparate data into decisive action, elevating global partnerships and strategic autonomy
Modern warfare has transformed. It’s no longer just about hardware, but increasingly a battle of information, where AI-driven intelligence is the ultimate force multiplier. From real-time combat decisions to geopolitical shifts, AI reshapes defence. While India prioritises indigenous AI/ML, its full strategic potential remains constrained. The core argument is clear: India needs a sophisticated, integrated intelligence backbone — a unified platform fusing all data, from classified military intelligence and real-time sensor feeds to open-source information. Without this integration, our AI’s capacity for real-time, actionable output is limited, hindering our ability to reshape alliances and contribute as a global security partner.
India’s Unmet Intelligence Challenge
India’s commitment to self-reliance in defence is undeniable. Our defence budget for FY 2025- 26 is a record high, with a substantial portion earmarked for domestic procurement. DRDO’s RCD budget has surged for AI/ML, yielding successes like indigenous swarm drones and AI-based predictive maintenance for the Sukhoi-30 MKI fleet. We are also deploying AI on tactical edge devices for faster, localised decision-making, and systems like Akashteer are beginning to process air defence data in near real-time.
Yet, a critical gap persists, especially given India’s historical position as the world’s second — largest arms importer (2020-2024). Much of our current indigenous AI relies primarily on open-source information. While valuable, this data is incomplete and lacks the depth crucial for dynamic military operations. It cannot provide the granular, timely, and classified intelligence commanders need for split-second decisions on a rapidly evolving battlefield. AI’s analytical power remains limited without access to sensitive, classified data.
An effective AI-driven defence ecosystem requires a secure “infrastructure for intelligence.” This platform must seamlessly fuse information from all streams: classified signals, imagery, human intelligence, real-time sensor feeds, and cyber threat data. The challenge lies in connecting disparate classified databases, overcoming siloed systems, and ensuring secure, ultra-low latency processing. Without this foundational integration, our advanced AI tools, currently in isolated pockets, cannot provide the holistic, predictive, and truly actionable operational picture essential for modern multi-domain warfare. We risk having advanced components but lacking the unified nervous system to translate intelligence into decisive advantage.
A New Era for Alliances
Bridging this intelligence gap is a geopolitical imperative that will redefine India’s strategic alliances:
Firstly, it enables proactive deterrence. Fusing classified and unclassified data in real-time grants unparalleled situational awareness across all domains. This allows for superior predictive analysis and swift, decisive action, signaling to adversaries India’s comprehensive understanding and rapid response capabilities, thus contributing significantly to regional stability.
Secondly, it empowers the Global South. India’s rapidly growing defence exports, reaching over 80 countries, demonstrate our commitment as a security partner. By offering integrated intelligence platforms that provide real-time decision support — beyond just hardware — India can uniquely empower nations often lacking such sophisticated systems. This fosters deeper trust and strategic interdependence, positioning India as a crucial player in global South-South cooperation and technological self-reliance. Lastly, it elevates partnerships with advanced economies.
As India develops a sophisticated indigenous intelligence backbone, our relationship with countries like the US or France transforms. We become a co-developer and strategic collaborator, able to securely share and leverage fused, real-time intelligence. This builds immense trust, enables deeper joint exercises, and enhances interoperability, allowing India to play a more proactive and indispensable role in shaping global security architectures as a technological peer.
Building India’s Strategic Advantage
Realising this vision demands overcoming formidable challenges. Technically, data integration is immense, requiring secure, ultra-low latency fusion of diverse, classified data. Robust cybersecurity is paramount. Beyond technology, human and organisational challenges are critical: a shortage of specialised AI/ML talent with security clearances, and deep-seated inter- agency silos that fragment data and efforts.
To accelerate, India needs a dedicated, national endeavour:
Targeted Investment: Beyond general RCD, significant capital outlay for this backbone is essential. Initiatives like iDEX and ADITI must expand their scope to incentivise firms working on secure, classified data integration.
Scaled Public-Private Partnership (PPP): India’s vibrant tech ecosystem must be leveraged under stringent security frameworks. Seamless government-industry collaboration is vital for sensitive defence applications.
Unified National Vision: An overarching national strategy and architecture is crucial. A high-level apex body, empowered to break down silos and ensure seamless interoperability across defence and intelligence agencies, is needed to create a true “sensor-to-shooter” capability.
India’s commitment to indigenous AI/ML in defence is clear. Yet, our strategic prowess will ultimately be measured by our ability to transform disparate data —both open-source and classified — into decisive, real-time action. By prioritising and building an indigenous, integrated intelligence backbone, India stands on the cusp of a profound transformation. This will be more than a military upgrade; it will fundamentally alter our geopolitical standing, enabling us to project power not merely through weaponry, but through superior, actionable intelligence. This capability will solidify India’s position as a technologically advanced, truly self-reliant, and indispensable global partner, driving meaningful alliances and contributing significantly to stability. This is the next frontier for India’s strategic autonomy.
(Tanmoy Chakrabarty is a veteran in public sector transformation and former Group Government Affairs Head at Tata Sons. He currently serves as the Founder–Director of Chakrabarty Consulting Services; Vanshita Garg, works at Chakrabarty Consulting Services as a strategy and policy professional)