The Indian Army has established a quantum computing laboratory and an AI centre at a military engineering institute in Madhya Pradesh’s Mhow. The centres will carry out extensive research in developing transformative technologies for use by the armed forces.

The Defence Ministry, in a statement, has said, “The Army, with support from the National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS), has recently established the Quantum Lab at Military College of Telecommunication Engineering, Mhow, to spearhead research and training in this key developing field.” The Indian Army is making steady and significant strides in emerging technologies.

During a recent visit to Mhow, Chief of Army Staff General MM Naravane had visited the facility. A statement by the ministry said, “Indian Army has also established an AI Centre at the same institution with over 140 deployments in forward areas and active support of industry and academia.”

“Training on cyber warfare is being imparted through a state-of-the-art cyber range and cyber security labs,” it said. The ministry said the research undertaken by the Army in the field of quantum technology would help it leapfrog into the next generation of communication and transform the current system of cryptography to post-quantum cryptography.

The key thrust areas are quantum key distribution, quantum communication and quantum computing, among others.