By A Correspondent

New Delhi: The Indian Army has sought information from local vendors for the supply of 50 Artificial Intelligence (AI)-enabled Advanced and Basic Gunnery Simulators for its T-90 main battle tank fleet.

The Ministry of Defence issued a Request for Information (RFI) recently in a bid to shift its gunnery training of the armoured corps personnel from live fire ranges to a simulated environment.

This move would significantly reduce equipment wear and tear, apart from training costs, while enabling the tank crew members to train repeatedly for multiple battle scenarios.

The RFI said the T-90 gunnery simulators must be built to military-grade standards and be capable of projecting multiple scenarios, including varied terrain and extreme weather conditions.

The simulators would support both basic and advanced gunnery training for the T-90 crew members, particularly the gunners.

The Indian Army expects the simulators to be able to replicate combat firing drills with high fidelity, allowing the gunner to complete the engagement cycle from target detection to tracking, ranging, aiming, and firing using all on-board weapons.

The on-board weapon systems would include the 125mm main gun, 7.62mm coaxial machine gun, INVAR missile, and smoke grenades, all within a realistic replica of the T-90 gunner station.

The simulator training for the T-90 gunners must be immersive, reproducing elements like the autoloader mechanism, recoil feedback, lighting conditions, and physical jolt associated with firing the main gun.

The RFI said the army expected the fire control system simulation to cover the Thermal Imaging Stand Alone System (TISAS) and Thermal Imaging Fire Control System (TIFCS) suite across normal, manual, and emergency modes.

This would include all types of ballistic solutions for different ammunition types such as High Explosive, High Explosive Anti-Tank, and Armour-Piercing Fin-Stabilised Discarding Sabot.

The core of the simulator training would be AI-based, providing dynamic adaptations of simulated enemy targets to increase difficulty levels or instructor-configured battlefield scenarios.

The simulators must support both individual and networked multiplayer missions across terrain profiles, reflecting India’s Western and Northern borders.

The AI-based simulation would play a key role in the performance evaluation of the trained crew members, automatically assessing the trainees, identifying and pointing out errors in engagement procedures, and providing corrective feedback to the training cycle. This is expected to reduce the reliance on constant instructor interventions during training.

The simulator would have an instructor control station that would still oversee the training operations, enabling scenario programming, malfunction simulation, performance tracking, and replay. Other crew members, too, would be able to observe the training exercises through an external display.

The simulator system, with a 15-year service life, must be transportable on an Ashok Leyland Stallion platform, and hence, should meet specific size and weight limits.

The simulator should function between -10 degrees Celsius and 45 degrees Celsius temperatures, and sustain exercises up to 16 hours a day, with an uninterrupted power supply backup for at least half an hour.

The RFI asked vendors to ensure long-term support to the simulators, including a mandatory two-year advanced notice before any production line shutdown, so that the Indian Army could stock critical spares for the system.

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