NEW DELHI: A senior Indian Army officer said on Monday that China extended support to Pakistan during Operation Sindoor and indicated that such collaboration is likely to continue in the future.
Speaking at a briefing, Lt Gen Rajiv Kumar Sahni, former Director General of Information Systems (DGIS), acknowledged the dual challenge posed by India’s western and northern adversaries. “There was both overt and covert support from China to Pakistan,” he said. “The way things are progressing, this pattern is likely to persist.”
Lt Gen Sahni, now appointed as the Director General of the Corps of Electronics and Mechanical Engineers (DG EME), emphasized that although collusion between China and Pakistan exists, it is unlikely all fronts will become active simultaneously. “We have our contingencies in place. Our forces are prepared to respond appropriately, depending on how and where threats emerge,” he stated.
Highlighting the changing nature of warfare, Sahni detailed the extensive use of home-grown military software and Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools during Operation Sindoor. These systems enhanced battlefield awareness and accelerated decision-making. A total of 23 applications were used to create a unified operational, intelligence, and logistics picture for the Indian Army.
“AI enabled multi-sensor, multi-source data fusion in real time,” he said, adding that these capabilities will be deployed across all borders. The home-grown military software applications and artificial intelligence tools were extensively employed by the Indian Army during Operation Sindoor which assisted in accelerated decision-making and enhanced battlefield awareness.
He added that these capabilities will be further upgraded with a military-specific large language model (LLM) expected to become functional within six months. These are meant to be deployed along the borders.
“That capability, in equal measure and when required, will be deployed along all our borders,” Sahni said. He said a common operational, intelligence, and logistics picture was created for the Army during Operation Sindoor using around 23 applications.
‘AI was used for data fusion’
According to the General, a common operational, intelligence, and logistics picture was created for the Army during Operation Sindoor using around 23 applications. Lt Gen Sahni explained that this required collecting and processing a significant volume of information in real time. “AI was used for multi-sensor and multi-source data fusion,” he added.
