Military turns to AR/VR for combat and training pilots

The armed forces are tapping start-ups for applications ranging from training pilots to repairing aircraft, increasing the efficiency of weapons and even making tanks more resilient on the battlefield.

A see-through armour developed by Mumbai-based AR/VR startup AjnaLens, which raised ₹12 crore in a pre-series A funding last month, is a case in point. Called AjnaESAS (enhanced situational awareness system), it comprises an AR-based head-mounted display and a 360-degree camera that offers the crew inside a tank a 360-degree horizontal field of view. The camera system also has night vision and 4X zoom capabilities. “One of the limitations of tanks is visual awareness in terms of what is around the tank as they have to navigate through a small periscopic view, which makes navigation difficult,” said Abhishek Tomar, co-founder and chief technology officer, AjnaLens. “The AR-based solution can empower drivers to safely navigate through dust, sand and haze. This increases the survivability of the crew,” added Tomar who said that his company’s clients include the Indian Army, Indian Navy, and the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).

According to Pankaj Raut, co-founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of the firm, the Indian Army was looking for a solution that would allow a soldier inside a tank to “see through” its armoured body. The company created a prototype that received a grant of ₹1.5 crore from the defence ministry under the iDEX initiative for further development. “While the project is near completion and user test trials are successfully finished, the final field trials are yet to conclude. The timeline for deployment is yet to be decided,” said Raut.

However, electronic systems such as these can be hacked if connected to a network during battle, which is why the entire system is kept offline and accessible only to the tank’s crew, the company said.

The camera feed is generated and fed directly into the AR headset in real-time.

Others too are experimenting with AR and VR for defence. Krupalu Mehta, co-founder and CEO of Mumbai-based Parallax Labs, said several defence agencies have been doing proof of concepts and demos. Some of these products are now being deployed, even though the scale of implementation is still very small. Training to fly a plane and effectively using weapons are among potential growth areas where these AR/VR startups are seeing traction. For instance, Parallax has developed a VR-based personal flight simulator that offers a more cost-effective alternative to traditional flight simulators. Parallax deployed a VR simulator at a naval aviation unit in Goa in October 2021 and is in talks to deploy another at the combat army aviation training school in Nashik. Parallax is currently using its VR solution for training on Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd’s ALH Mk-III helicopters.

A spokesperson for the defence ministry didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking comments on the roadmap for adoption of AR/VR in defence.