Explained: Project WARDEC – India’s upcoming AI-powered wargame centre

What is the News?

Army Training Command has signed a memorandum of understanding(MoU) with Gandhinagar-based Rashtriya Raksha University (RRU) to develop a ‘Wargame Research and Development Centre(WARDEC) in New Delhi.

What is WARDEC?

WARDEC will be a first-of-its-kind simulation-based training center in India that will use artificial intelligence(AI) to design virtual reality wargames.

Purpose: The centre will be used by the Army to train its soldiers and test their strategies through metaverse-enabled gameplay. 

How will the simulation exercises play out at the center?

Soldiers will test their skills in the metaverse where their surroundings will be simulated using a combination of virtual reality(VR) and augmented reality(AR).

Location: The centre will come up in a military zone in New Delhi.

Significance: The centre will help soldiers prepare for wars as well as counter-terror and counter-insurgency operations.

How many countries use such wargaming drills?

Since the 9/11 attacks, the use of information technology-enabled wargaming is preferred by several countries like the US, Israel, and the UK to prepare for possibilities in case of terror attacks or war.

For instance, in 2014, several world leaders including former German chancellor Angela Merkel, former US president Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping played a war simulation game during the Hague Summit about how to react in case of a nuclear attack. In that case, the target of the nuclear attack was a fictional country named Brinia.

Source: The post is based on the article “Explained: Project WARDEC – India’s upcoming AI-powered wargame centre” published in Indian Express on 21st May 2022.