Madhya Pradesh: Army sets up quantum computing lab, AI centre at engineering institute

NEW DELHI: The Army has set up a quantum computing laboratory and a centre for artificial intelligence (AI) at a military engineering institute in Madhya Pradesh's Mhow. The two centres will carry out extensive research in developing transformative technologies for use by the armed forces.

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"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 defence ministry said. It said the Indian Army is making steady and significant strides in the field of emerging technologies.

Chief of Army Staff General MM Naravane visited the facility during his recent visit to Mhow. "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 ministry said in a statement. "Training on cyber warfare is being imparted through a state-of-the-art cyber range and cyber security labs," it said.

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The ministry said the research undertaken by the Army in the field of quantum technology will help it leapfrog into the next generation of communication and transform the current system of cryptography to post-quantum cryptography. It said the key thrust areas are quantum key distribution, quantum communication and quantum computing, among others.