What is CENTAIC? AI-enabled system by China that aids Pakistan's Air Force to build real-time data exchange; Should India be afraid?

China and Pakistan have been old allies, and their strong, friendly ties became evident during the three-day short war following India's Operation Sindoor. Apart from the regular purchases of defence equipment and production deals the defence cooperation extends to the area of military artificial intelligence (AI). China is now playing a significant role in enhancing the capabilities of the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) to build its Multi-Domain Operations (MDO) network, connecting terrestrial, airborne, and space-based sensors that further boosts battlefield awareness and reduce response time.

What is CENTAIC?

In a major push to Pakistan’s air force, CENTAIC, or the Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Computing, was established in Pakistan with the help of China’s Artificial intelligence. It is a significant part of an operation to boost the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) into a cyber-enabled military enhanced with the power of AI that could enable the People's Liberation Army (PLA) to connect with the Air Force using AI and real-time data exchange.

While talking about Operation Sindoor in Parliament, Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, mentioned it in his speech. CENTAIC was developed in 2020 and even after five years in existence, it remains rarely spoken about in the Indian political circles, news and in defence areas. He cited senior military officials, including Lt General Rahul Singh, and made allegations regarding Pakistan receiving live war inputs from China during the operation.

What can CENTAIC do?

He said, “On May 11, when DGMO-level talks were going on, Pakistan actually was mentioning that 'we know your such and such important vector is primed and ready for action. I would request you to perhaps pull it back... so it is very clear, they were getting live battlefield inputs from China....” He also claimed that the Centre helps to “integrate the Pakistani Air Force with the Chinese Air Force and transform the PAF into a network-centric air force”.

The daily, Pakistan Today, reported that CENTAIC was created to develop AI for both military and civilian purposes. Toronto-based website Quwa reported that in 2020, PAF Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal Mujahid Anwar Khan said the government would help integrate AI into the force’s operational work. The website offers information on Pakistani defence developments.

Quwa also described how AI build networking into different but related fields. It could leverage the big data, which can assess information from different sources and make PAF use flight data from test ranges, training exercises, aircraft sensors, and maintenance tools for better decision-making and aircraft performance.

PAF that widely uses Chinese JF-17 fighter jet, gathers a large amount of flight data that CENTAIC may use to enhance the implementation of the information gathered from data.