Recently, Indian Army with the support of National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS), established a Quantum computing laboratory at the Military College of Telecommunication Engineering (MCTE), Mhow in Madhya Pradesh. The NSCS is a government agency, which advises the Prime Minister’s Office on matters of national security and strategic interest. The MCTE would spearhead the research and training in this key developing field. Indian Army has also established an Artificial Intelligence (AI) Centre at the same institution, with over 140 deployments in forward areas and active support of industry and academia.
The two centres would carry out extensive research in developing transformative and cutting-edge technologies for the use of the Indian armed forces. The key thrust areas would be quantum key distribution, quantum communication, quantum computing, and post-quantum cryptography. The Indian Army has been making steady and significant strides in the field of emerging technologies. Training on cyber warfare is being imparted through a state-of-the-art cyber range and cyber security labs. According to the Ministry of Defence, the research undertaken by the Indian Army in the field of quantum technology, would help it developing its own next-generation military communication system. It would transform the current system of cryptography (technique to secure information and communications) to post-quantum cryptography (PQC). Post-quantum cryptography refers to cryptographic algorithms that are thought to be secure against a cryptanalytic attack by a quantum computer.
Quantum technology in defence and military applications
Quantum technology is an emergent and potentially disruptive discipline, with the ability to affect many human activities. It is a dual-use technology, useful to defence and security industry, and military and governmental actors. The first phase of quantum technology resulted in nuclear weapons and energy; then the quantum computer played a significant role. Presently, laser weapons are being implemented and tested. Quantum technology does not fundamentally bring new weapons or standalone military systems. It rather significantly enhances the measurement capability, sensing, precision, and computation power and efficiency of the current and future military technology.
In this age of Cyber and Cyborg (an organism with both biological and technical components) warfare, quantum computing could definitely play the role of a game changer. Experts believe that quantum computers could make a significant contribution to the future of military equipment and ammunition industries. Quantum computation and quantum communication would witness a new revolution. Declining cycle times, increased awareness of the situation and more efficient communication, are just some of the advantages that quantum computation or quantum communication would offer in the field of defence logistics.
The impact of quantum computing and quantum communications and internet of things (IoT) on national security and defence requirements is closely being analysed. Quantum encryption and quantum sensors are expected to have a huge impact is this field.
Quantum advantage in cyber warfare could provide very effective attack vectors on the current asymmetric encryptions and symmetric encryption. The risk that hostile intelligence is gathering encrypted data with the expectation of future decryption using the power of quantum computers, is real, high, and present. It applies to military, intelligence, and government sectors where secrets and confidential data are exchanged or stored.
The infrastructure is being prepared for implementing quantum crypto-agility. New quantum-resilient algorithms could offer a new mathematical approach, which are difficult even for quantum computers and a paradigm of working with encrypted data. For instance, fully homomorphic encryption (FHE) would never allow data to get decrypted, even if they are being processed. The FHE is a good candidate for cloud-based quantum computing to ensure secure cloud quantum computation. As there are many potential security breaches, the post-quantum cryptography should be implemented in the internet of things (IoT) or the internet of military things (IoMT). Quantum key distribution (QKD) ensures safe encryption key exchange, where the security has been mathematically proven.
A small embedded quantum computer could be placed in an autonomous vehicle or mobile command centre. In the military sector, quantum optimisations could be logistics for overseas operations and deployment, mission planning, war games, systems validation and verification, new vehicles’ design, and their attributes such as stealth or agility. Quantum annealers have proven in verifying and validating the software code of complex systems. It could play a significant role in command and control (C2) systems. Quantum computers could also improve and speed up the scenario simulations, and analyse the Big Data from intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) for situational awareness. Use of quantum computers in communications that can totally transform underwater warfare is of immense significance in the defence world.
Quantum computing would enhance classical machine learning and artificial intelligence for defence applications. The quantum digital signature (QDS) would provide security against tampering. New quantum-based technologies and approaches support the development of sensitive precision instruments for positioning, navigation and timing (PNT). The quantum advantage could be manifested for GPS denied or challenging operational environments, enabling precise operations. Examples of such environments are underwater and underground, or environments under GPS jamming.
In general, quantum inertial navigation or augmented navigation has vast potential, since there is no need for GPS, infrared or radar navigation, and it is not susceptible to jamming in electronic warfare attacks. However, the claim of ‘no need for GPS’ is not quite accurate.
Role of AI in defence and warfare
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is intelligence demonstrated by machines as opposed to natural intelligence displayed by humans and animals. Now-a-days, it has practically crept into almost every civilian industry. AI is now becoming an integral component of modern-day combat. Countries across the world are investing substantially for the use of AI in their defence facilities. This investment is dedicated to rigorous research and development in current and futuristic AI technology in military applications.
In the present days, technologies like AI, virtual reality, augmented reality, and blockchain are in use to enhance defence capabilities. AI-enabled military devices are able to efficiently handle large amounts of data. Training and simulation are diverse fields that employ system and software engineering ideas to create models, that could assist soldiers in training on different fighting systems used in actual military operations.
AI, combined with geospatial analysis, could aid in the extraction of useful information from linked devices like radars and autonomous identification systems. This data would aid in the surveillance and detection of any unlawful or suspicious activity and would also alert the appropriate authorities.
AI-enabled technology has now been incorporated in the new-age weaponry. With the help of it, advanced missiles would be able to estimate and examine the target level without any human intervention.
In the present age cyberspace is regarded as the third war front in military circles. The security of a nation would be at stake if its network and confidential defence information is hacked. Machine learning is being used by defence agencies to forecast and protect against unauthorised intrusions. In most cases, intrusion detection is accomplished by categorising the network as either normal or invasive. AI-based techniques aid in improving the accuracy of such categorisation.
India’s stand on quantum technology
The DRDO has developed a Quantum Random Number Generator (QRNG), which is capable of detecting random quantum events and convert those into a stream of binary digits. With this development, India has become one of those countries that have the technology to achieve the use of quantum technology to generate random numbers. This is important because random numbers have essential roles in many fields like quantum communication, cryptography, (key generation, key wrapping, authentication, etc.), scientific simulations, lotteries, and fundamental physics experiments.
The DRDO also has demonstrated secure communication using QKD technology between two DRDO labs in Hyderabad. As per researchers, secure communications are vital for defence and strategic agencies and distribution of encryption keys from time to time is an important requirement. Recently, the Government of India has allotted huge amount of money in its annual budget for the development of the sector.
Conclusion
The development and widespread diffusion of quantum technologies might reduce the comparative advantage of some powers over a period of time. If every government could secure its communications, process intelligence data with beforehand unprecedented scale and speed, and detect foreign military assets in the air or under the sea, then levelling effect might be observed. It can be said that technical quantum supremacy is both inevitable and close to hand. The disruptive effects of quantum technologies would likely lead to countries changing their defence postures.
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