India and Japan will work together to introduce AI and Robotics in defence

India and Japan will collaborate to introduce artificial intelligence and robotics in the defence sector, the next level of strategic cooperation between the two Asian partners.

Kentaro Sonoura, Japan's state minister for foreign affairs and a close adviser to PM Shinzo Abe, told media that the there will be more bilateral cooperation between the countries ahead to develop unmanned ground vehicles (UGV) and robotics. "The two PMs agreed to launch a working group, which will work on cooperation between nuclear companies. Japan's intention is to start this quickly, possibly by the end of this month," he added.

After the nuclear agreement was given consent by the Japanese parliament late 2017, Sonoura said India and Japan would be setting up a joint task force for commercial agreements by the end of January. With the legislation backing them, the Japanese minister said Tokyo was keen to get this going.

With an aggressive and expansionist China growing as a challenge, the two countries are increasingly looking at the world through a similar lens.

“The next step is infrastructure development based on global standards so that connectivity among countries is increased. The third step would be maritime law enforcement and disaster management that would ensure the stability and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region. Therefore, we would like to connect and combine our Indo-Pacific strategy and India's Act East policy as one big picture. That's the synergy we seek" Sonoura said.

With continuous and breakthrough innovations in AI and Robotics, which are now being used in smart homes, smartphones and cloud storage, AI and Robotics are creeping into defence sectors too, to wage smart wars!