The Navy Day in India is celebrated on 4 December every year to recognize the achievements and role of the Indian Navy to the country.

The INIP (Indian Naval Indigenization Plan) 2015-2030 upgrades the Indian Navy to high-end technologies to increase its fighting capabilities with a resilient indigenous technological ecosystem. In addition, the Indian Navy will soon test advanced control systems for warships and submarines using AI-enabled technology.

Numerous armed forces are knee-deep in utilizing AI to optimize their operations to increase the sophistication and effectiveness of their capabilities. 

Indian Navy and AI

India is also modernizing the three branches of its armed forces through AI. The Indian Navy, for example, is undergoing a rapid transition from a digitally enabled navy to an AI-enabled force. 

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh unveiled seventy-five newly-developed AI products at the inaugural symposium and exhibition on Artificial Intelligence in Defence (AIDef) in New Delhi last year.

Likewise, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) and NITI Aaayog were responsible for developing a strategic plan for integrating artificial intelligence (AI) into the armed forces, including the Indian Navy, in 2018.

The following are some of the notable AI Naval Projects:

• The Indian Navy's Autonomous Fast Intercept Boat is the first of its type. In autonomous mode, the boat is 15.6 meters long and can cruise up to 25 mph. Under the government's initiative, it was built in close collaboration with Bharat Electronics and Goa Shipyards Limited. 
• The boat has been intended to adapt to a wide range of capabilities, including surveillance, countermeasures, and exploration, to name a few.
• Offline language translator - The Indian Navy is expanding its involvement in natural language processing (NLP) by developing voice-to-English technology solutions for Mandarin, Hebrew, and Russian languages. 
• Security - The Navy is leveraging the immense potential of computer vision in biometrics, face recognition, surveillance, and image retrieval. Several instances have been recognized and subsequently advanced to improve its platforms' combat prowess.
• Proton - Machine-readable text may now be generated from 2D photographs of handwritten text by the Indian Navy. Furthermore, intricate algorithms can take data and transform it into practical knowledge that can be used to improve operational efficacy and efficiency.
• Anwesh - Anwesh uses an Elastic Search Engine driven by Optical Character Recognition (OCR) that combines strong analytics and vision to improve performance efficiency and decision-making at the touch of a button.
• Hawksecure - Hawksecure's advanced AI engine, capable of behavioural and trend analysis, has been designed to boost the Navy's cybersecurity posture and advanced cybersecurity, detecting any deviation from the norm. 

Conclusion

At INS Valsura, the Navy also established a Centre of Excellence in artificial intelligence. The Navy asserts that the centre will promote the integration of AI and ML across all domains. The Navy is receptive to partnerships with private entities to enhance its artificial intelligence capabilities. The Navy, for instance, collaborated with the Goa and BEL Shipyards in developing the Autonomous Fast Intercept Boat.

In furthering the indigenous AI path, Vice Admiral Pendharkar reaffirmed that the Navy is committed to and confident in partnerships with academia, industry firms, DRDO, and DPSUs.

Furthermore, the Navy has established an AI core group that convenes biannually to discuss all matters about AI and ML. Again, periodic evaluations of AI initiatives are carried out to verify compliance with the established schedules. In addition, the Navy also provides AI/ML training to officers and personnel of all specialization levels.