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Sovereign AI models, resilient supply chains to safeguard national interests: Cabinet secretary
Somanathan said strong civil-military cooperation and a whole-of-nation approach were essential for achieving optimal outcomes in both conflict and peacetime
Cabinet secretary TV Somanathan on Tuesday emphasised the need for sovereign artificial intelligence models and resilient supply chains to safeguard national interests, amid evolving geopolitical challenges triggered by ongoing global conflicts.
Addressing the Army Commanders’ Conference, he said strong civil-military cooperation and a whole-of-nation approach were essential for achieving optimal outcomes in both conflict and peacetime, while highlighting key strategic imperatives for national preparedness in an increasingly complex global environment.
His comments come as India is developing around a dozen AI models using local infrastructure, data and workforce; and the West Asia crisis has disrupted global supply chains, sparking a surge in oil and gas prices, and rattling the global economy.
Under the India AI Mission, announced in 2024 with an outlay of ₹10,372 crore for five years, the government is funding 12 organisations to build sovereign AI models. Of these, Sarvam, Gnani and BharatGen showcased their models at the India AI Summit in February 2026.
The government’s goal is to create homegrown, Indic-language focused models and reduce reliance on foreign platforms.
Latest technologies, including AI, are being leveraged for favourable outcomes in the ongoing conflicts. In March, chief of defence staff General Anil Chauhan said that AI will shape future warfare and help the armed forces make timely and right decisions to emerge victorious in conflict. It already plays a major role in ongoing conflicts in areas including decision support, targeting, and ISR (intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance).
The four-day apex army conference, chaired by army chief General Upendra Dwivedi, began on Monday. The Naval Commanders’ Conference, headed by navy chief Admiral Dinesh K Tripathi, is being held simultaneously.
The two conferences come at a time when defence minister Rajnath Singh has asked the military brass to draw “operational and technological” lessons from the ongoing US-Israel war with Iran to bolster India’s defence preparedness.
Lessons from the West Asia crisis include boosting self-reliance in defence, improving supply chain management for defence equipment production, and ensuring maintenance and serviceability of existing equipment.
Somanathan described Atmanirbharta not merely as a policy objective, but as a national mindset in which every sector, institution and citizen contributes towards building a self-reliant and resilient India.
Key discussions at the Army Commanders’ Conference will include the employment of unmanned aerial systems (UAS) and Counter-UAS technologies in light of the ongoing conflicts, a review of the army’s capabilities almost a year after the military launched Operation Sindoor, and the modernisation of the service, officials aware of the matter said.
The Indian Army plans to induct tens of thousands of locally-made UAS and loitering munitions over the next five years to boost its battlefield capabilities, given the growing impact of these systems on military operations and how they have reshaped modern warfare as visible in ongoing global conflicts including the US-Israel war with Iran, as HT previously reported.
The army’s requirement spans 80 different types of unmanned systems for specific roles including intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance, precision strikes, munition dropping, air defence, jamming, mine warfare, data relay, and logistics.
The navy is also comprehensively reviewing its operational posture to protect the country’s maritime interests and examining issues related to capability development and the service’s strategic alignment with national security objectives. The conference comes in light of swift naval deployments to safeguard India’s energy security, amid the West Asia conflict and the convergence of multi-national forces in the Indian Ocean Region.
