Artificial Intelligence1 min read

Battle-tested in Op Sindoor, now getting AI upgrade: India's air defence system to get smarter

By · Via Times of India · Published by Everything Blog

In short

The modernized platform utilizes an artificial intelligence architecture to evaluate and prioritize diverse threats, such as low-signature cruise missiles, uncrewed aerial vehicles, and saturation attacks. Operating over the secure Air Force Network, it synthesizes surveillance feeds from military and civilian radars, satellites, and airborne warning craft into a unified operational view. The system links directly with the Army's Akashteer and the Navy's Trigun platforms through the Joint Air Defence Centre to assign optimal weapons like the S-400 or Akash-NG without overlap.

Key points

  • Human commanders will retain final decision-making control over all artificial intelligen…: Human commanders will retain final decision-making control over all artificial intelligence weapon deployment recommendations.
  • The acceleration of this modernization phase followed operational air defense tracking du…: The acceleration of this modernization phase followed operational air defense tracking during Operation Sindoor in May 2025.
  • Real-time sensor integration combines civilian radar data alongside military satellites a…: Real-time sensor integration combines civilian radar data alongside military satellites and Netra airborne early warning aircraft.

Sources checked by our analysis pipeline: 1

Recent and ongoing conflicts have demonstrated the importance of air defences. From the use of air power during

Operation Sindoor, when Pakistan's efforts to damage key Indian military capabilities failed miserably, to the conflict in West Asia and Ukraine, where the need for robust air defence has emerged as the most critical factor. When a drone, a cruise missile or a fighter crosses into Indian airspace, the decision about what to do next increasingly takes just seconds. The system that makes this possible is the Integrated Air Command and Control System (IACCS), and Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) says it has now completed development of the critical core technologies for its next-generation upgrade, which aims to make the

Indian Air Force's air-defence network AI-native.

What IACCS is

IACCS is an automated command and control network for air defence, run by the Indian Air Force (IAF) and built around BEL's systems. It runs on the Air Force Network (AFNET), the encrypted digital grid launched on September 14, 2010, and brings together data from ground radars, airborne warning aircraft, drones, air traffic control…

Artificial Intelligence