Rashtriya Raksha University (RRU), a Gandhinagar-based institute under the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), that specializes in national security and policing will develop a Wargame Research and Development Centre( WARDEC) in New Delhi for the Indian Army.

An MOU was signed between RRU and the Army Training Command of the Indian Army on Friday to develop the Wargame Research and Development Centre. The training center will be powered by AI in a metaverse-based environment which will enable the Indian Army to train its soldiers in virtual reality simulation war games designed specifically to meet the challenges of counter-terrorism and counter-insurgency operations by the armed forces in India.

The Indian Army will provide data to develop the model backgrounds while the laboratory will be prepared by Indian tech giant Tech Mahindra. Though a specific time frame has not been given as to by when the same training center will be developed but reports say in the next 3-6 months RRU faculty will visit Delhi and collect data from the Army.

“The MoU will facilitate co-operation and collaboration in the niche field of simulation, computer wargaming, and allied technologies,” read a statement from the Army Training Command, Indian Army.

Soldiers will be able to test their skills in a virtual environment. “In metaverse, the players will get a realistic experience of the actual situation. If a weapon weighing 5 kg drops or the air pressure falls, they will feel it like anyone would in a live situation, real-time. The game would play out player versus player, player versus computer or even computer versus computer,” said an RRU official

Technology-enabled virtual war game has been used by many countries like USA, UK,Israel, etc in the past to train soldiers against all eventualities.