Defence technology strategist
Narendra Pratap Singh
Brigadier (Retd), former Director of Artificial Intelligence, Indian Army
A Kargil veteran and Corps of Signals officer who spent three decades turning information into decisions. Today he advises defence organisations, start-ups and industry as CEO of Mindsprintz Consulting.
The platform is no longer the unit of power. The system is.
Drones are not changing warfare because they fly. They are changing warfare because they connect.
Narendra Pratap Singh, introducing From Data to Decision Advantage
Profile
Three decades inside the Army’s nervous system.
Brigadier Narendra Pratap Singh (Retd) is a defence technology strategist and a former Director of Artificial Intelligence in the Indian Army. A Kargil War veteran and a second-generation officer of the Corps of Signals, he has spent his career where communications, information systems and military decision-making meet.
He served with a United Nations infantry battalion group in the Congo, commanded his regiment in the Doda sector of Jammu and Kashmir, and was Chief Signals Officer of a desert corps. At the Army War College and in the Perspective Planning Directorate he worked on the Army’s long-term capability plans for communications, electronic warfare, information systems, artificial intelligence and autonomous systems.
Today he leads Mindsprintz Consulting, advising defence organisations, start-ups and industry. He writes for BharatShakti, speaks at institutions such as IIM Ahmedabad, and is the author of From Data to Decision Advantage.
- Service
- Indian Army, Corps of Signals
- Rank
- Brigadier (Retd)
- Now
- Chief Executive Officer, Mindsprintz Consulting
- Fellow
- Institution of Electronics and Telecommunication Engineers
- Study
- Advanced Certification in AI, IIT Guwahati. AI leadership studies, IIT Kanpur.
- Writes for
- BharatShakti, Asian Dispatch
- Based in
- Delhi
Service
From the field to the Army’s technology plans.
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Field
Kargil, and a United Nations tour in the Congo
A second-generation officer commissioned into the Corps of Signals, he is a veteran of the Kargil War. He also served with a United Nations infantry battalion group in the Congo.
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Command
Commanding officer, Doda sector
He commanded his regiment in the Doda sector of Jammu and Kashmir.
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Signals
Chief Signals Officer, a desert corps
As Chief Signals Officer of a desert corps he was responsible for the communications and information systems of an entire corps in the field.
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Strategy
Army War College and Perspective Planning
In the Army’s strategic think tanks he planned long-term capability for communications, electronic warfare, information systems, artificial intelligence and autonomous systems, and authored the Technology Perspective and Capability Roadmap 2018.
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Innovation
Army Design Bureau and the Pune Technology Node
A founding member of the Army Design Bureau ecosystem, he authored the first four editions of the Compendium of Problem Definition Statements, the Army’s statement of the technology problems it wants industry and academia to solve. He went on to found and chair the Army’s first Regional Technology Node, launched by Southern Command in Pune in November 2021.
Launch of the Regional Technology Node and the SIDM Start-Up Forum, Pune, 2 November 2021 -
Transformation
Management Information Systems Organisation
As its head, he ran one of the Army’s largest ERP ecosystems, spanning personnel, logistics, equipment, transport, medical services and operational information systems.
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Artificial intelligence
Director of Artificial Intelligence
He served as Director of Artificial Intelligence in the Indian Army. He holds an Advanced Certification in AI from IIT Guwahati and is pursuing AI leadership studies at IIT Kanpur.
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Now
Mindsprintz Consulting
As chief executive he advises defence organisations, start-ups and industry on artificial intelligence, autonomous systems, digital transformation and the future of warfare.
The book
From Data to Decision Advantage
How drones, AI and networks are redefining warfare
The first book in his Unmanned Systems series looks at how unmanned systems are changing combat, military organisations and decision-making itself. Drawing on operational experience, strategic planning and technology transformation, it explains what drones are becoming: nodes inside larger decision systems.
Speed decides. Systems win.
Inside the book
- Drones, from platforms to integrated systems
- FPV drones, loitering munitions, logistics drones and swarms
- Links, navigation, positioning and control loops
- Electronic warfare, jamming and spoofing
- Autonomy and the human-machine relationship
- Command and control as the real centre of power
- Counter-drone warfare and the economics of mass
- What the change means for India
Positions
What he argues.
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Systems
Are we building drones, or are we building drone power?
Building India’s Future-Proof Defence Drone Ecosystem, BharatShakti, May 2026
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Speed
Autonomous and unmanned warfare evolves at software speed. And software speed changes everything.
Building India’s Future-Proof Defence Drone Ecosystem, BharatShakti, May 2026
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Trust
Trust is rarely a technological problem. More often, it is a familiarity problem.
The Real Battlefield of Military AI: Trust, Not Technology, BharatShakti, June 2026
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Risk
The greatest vulnerability may not be espionage. It may be battlefield irrelevance.
Three Risks India Must Understand, BharatShakti, May 2026
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Sovereignty
True sovereignty is therefore measured by resilience rather than ownership.
India’s Sovereignty Imperative in the Age of AI and Starlink, BharatShakti, June 2026
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Architecture
The Army must be able to change the integrator without changing the architecture.
NGC2: US Army’s Push to Build a Data-Driven Battlefield, BharatShakti, August 2026
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Procurement
The RFP is therefore the visible tip of a much larger process.
Why Defence Procurement Begins Long Before the RFP, BharatShakti, September 2026
Writing
Essays and analysis.
He writes for BharatShakti and Asian Dispatch on military AI, unmanned systems, technological sovereignty and the way armies buy technology.
- Aug 2026 NGC2: US Army’s Push to Build a Data-Driven Battlefield BharatShakti
- Aug 2026 Trust in the Age of Unmanned Systems Asian Dispatch
- Jun 2026 India’s Sovereignty Imperative in the Age of AI and Starlink BharatShakti
- Jun 2026 The Real Battlefield of Military AI: Trust, Not Technology BharatShakti
- May 2026 Building India’s Future-Proof Defence Drone Ecosystem: Three Risks India Must Understand BharatShakti
- May 2026 Building India’s Future-Proof Defence Drone Ecosystem BharatShakti
Video series on BharatShakti
Defence Procurement: A Practitioner’s Perspective
A running series for start-ups, MSMEs and technology companies on how the Indian military identifies, prioritises, funds and buys capability, from the first presentation to the contract.
All episodes
Talks and conversations
On stage, on air, in the room.
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How drones are winning wars
In conversation with Maj Gen (Dr) Yash Mor on drones as one node in a wider system of sensors, networks, AI, command and control, electronic warfare and logistics, and on why the future may belong to the side with the best system rather than the most drones.
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The Autonomous Battlespace: AI, Decision-Making and Innovation in the Age of Intelligent Systems
A seminar for the IIMA Centre for Digital Transformation on the shift from industrial-age to algorithmic warfare, with Ukraine as a live laboratory, addressed to faculty, researchers, students and senior government officials.
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Drone warfare, Jaypee Institute of Information Technology
Subject-matter expert on a panel discussion on drones in war.
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An AI hackathon at Carrier
Chief guest at a company event where employees built agentic AI solutions for everyday problems. His advice, from the Army’s own transformation: people and organisations matter more than technology.
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Southern Star Army, Academia and Industry Interface, Pune
As chairman of the Regional Technology Node he spoke on Atmanirbharta in the Indian Army to an audience from industry, academia and the Army at the Command Hospital, Pune.
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Engage with your Army
An online workshop by the Regional Technology Node, Pune, introducing start-ups to the Army’s procurement process, opened by the General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Southern Command.
Advisory
Mindsprintz Consulting
Mindsprintz advises defence organisations, start-ups and industry on artificial intelligence, autonomous systems, digital transformation and the future of warfare, with the judgement of someone who planned, built and ran these systems from inside the Army.
Military AI and decision support
Where AI can compress decision cycles, and what it takes for commanders and soldiers to trust it.
Unmanned and autonomous systems
Drone programmes planned as whole systems: sensors, links, control, countermeasures and supply chains.
Defence procurement strategy
How requirements are born, prioritised, funded and bought, and where a company’s product fits in that cycle.
Digital transformation at scale
Lessons from running one of the Army’s largest ERP ecosystems, for organisations modernising their own.
Sovereign and resilient capability
Technology choices that keep working under disruption, denial and attack.
Contact
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