Homegrown AI startup Sarvam has signed a five-year agreement with the defence ministry to develop and deploy artificial intelligence (AI) applications for the armed forces, as India looks to build its own AI capabilities for defence and national security.

The memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Headquarters Integrated Defence Staff (HQ IDS) will provide a framework for AI projects across the army, navy, air force and joint organisations, Sarvam said on Monday. The company has not disclosed the financial details of the agreement or the specific projects planned under it.

Sarvam will develop AI applications for military operations, training and decision-making, and provide technical support for their deployment. The projects will cover all three services, with HQ IDS coordinating the work.

The proposed applications will focus on decision support, target acquisition and combining data from different sources across the sensor-to-shooter loop. The systems will run on sovereign infrastructure, with human oversight retained over operational decisions, the company said.

We are proud to partner with the Ministry of Defence on a joint framework to advance AI adoption across the Army, the Navy and the Air Force.

The agreement will also give the three services access to a common technology stack that includes foundation models, agentic AI infrastructure, and geospatial and perception systems. This could allow the forces to share learnings from individual projects and build on capabilities developed across the services.

The work will be carried out by Chanakya, Sarvam's division focused on security and defence. It will use the company's AI technology stack, including its Sarvam 105B foundation model.

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