With AI-Enabled Tech, Indian Navy To Soon Start Testing Advanced Control Systems For Warships, Submarines

Indian Navy will soon start testing new Artificial Intelligence (AI) equipped advanced Combat Management System (CMS) for naval ships, reported Times of India.

Apart from the new CMS system, Indian Navy also plans to begin testing of a new unmanned autonomous boat for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) missions around November, as well.

According to the TOI report, the development of this new Autonomous unmanned boat is being conducted under the 'Integrated Unmanned Roadmap' made by the Indian Navy.

Under this roadmap, Navy plans to integrate advance technologies like AI and machine learning in various surface and underwater platforms to assist the Navy officers in decision making allowing shorter response times.

The new indigenous CMS will be the control centre of almost all the sensors and equipment in a naval ship.

The new CMS will integrate, the ships radar, sonar, electronic warfare, and engine control systems with missiles, torpedoes, guns and other weapons, allowing the shortest possible reaction time.

The ships will also able to talk with each other with new generation jam resistant data links using BEL-developed Software Defined Radio's (SDR) which will gradually replace older Very High Frequency (VHF) radios.

According to the TOI report, the new CMS will be integrated on all new naval warships being commissioned onwards 2024.

“The CMS 24-29 can do faster threat assessment with inbuilt-AI algorithms and gives the warship’s captain suggestions on which particular weapon should be used in a particular situation. It can also talk to the existing CMS on board warships,” the TOI report said quoting an official source.

The autonomous unmanned boat, on the other hand, will start testing somewhere between Mumbai and Goa, from November.

The 15-metre boat will be capable of conducting ISR missions, and is being developed by Navy's Weapons and Electronic Systems Engineering Establishment (WESEE) and Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL).