India's Robot Army

A Sivathanu Pillai, the Chief Controller of India's Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and CEO of the Indo-Russian technology joint venture BrahMos Aerospace, spoke to reporters about the future of India's planned robot army.

Pillia said, "future wars will be very fast. We have to create suitable technology for it, and we are progressing well in this direction."

He said to expect developments for the soldiers within five years. They are looking at the future warrior as a "Soldier as a system...with intelligent inputs, communication, light-weight night sights (special goggles), protective clothing and shoes against mines and arms."

In ten years the army will replace troops with 'Robotic Soldiers' which will be "autonomous in all respects."


Other areas of ongoing research include autonomous vehicles, flying platforms and UAVs, and an autonomous under-water vehicle was being developed at the Naval Science Technological Laboratory in Visakhapatnam.

DRDO satrted initial trials, he said, but it was going to be a big programme.

To support the growing investment he said that they are hiring 500 to 600 scientists and engineers every year.


The Hindu News Update Service