Sarvam signs five-year AI deal with India's Ministry of Defence

Bengaluru-based AI startup Sarvam has signed a five-year memorandum of understanding with the Ministry of Defence to develop and deploy AI applications across the Army, Navy and Air Force. The agreement with Headquarters Integrated Defence Staff (HQ IDS) sets up an umbrella framework for AI projects across the three Services and their joint organisations: applications for military operations, training and decision support, including target acquisition and data fusion across the sensor-to-shooter loop - the chain that turns what sensors detect into action. Human oversight is retained for operational decisions, and the systems run on sovereign infrastructure in India. The work is led by Chanakya, Sarvam's national security and defence division, using the company's AI stack including its Sarvam 105B foundation model; the framework also covers AI agents, geospatial and perception systems and an 'AI fabric' meant to connect different parts of India's defence capabilities, so lessons from one Service's projects can inform the others. Sarvam did not disclose the financial value of the agreement. The deal comes as India pushes to build indigenous defence technology and reduce reliance on foreign systems.

DTT summary based on Analytics India Magazine's report. The full article is on the publisher's site.