Top military commanders of the Indian Armed Forces today deliberated on the proposed theatre commands and focused on establishment of joint command and control centres. The two-day Joint Commanders’ Conference, chaired by Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Anil Chauhan,...

Top military commanders of the Indian Armed Forces today deliberated on the proposed theatre commands and focused on establishment of joint command and control centres.

The two-day Joint Commanders’ Conference, chaired by Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Anil Chauhan, chiefs of the Army, Navy and the Air Force, and other top military officials, kicked off in Lucknow today. The CDS spoke about the importance of joint future plans for enhancing integration of the forces. “This is crucial for adapting to the contours of future warfare and conduct operations,” the Ministry of Defence said quoting the CDS.

General Chauhan complimented the three services for initiating numerous measures along the roadmap for integration. He stressed that creation of joint commands or the theatre commands was a ‘step-by-step process’.

This would begin with cooperation among the service leading to what he said would be ‘joint culture’. At present, the training and operational doctrines of the three forces are distinct from each other. “Finally, integration of forces has to be achieved for conduct of joint operations,” General Chauhan said. The conference, with a theme of ‘Transforming Armed Forces’, is focused on shaping the future of India’s military to adapt to the changing operational milieu.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh is scheduled to attend the conference tomorrow. The Tribune was the first to report in its edition dated August 29 that the minister will be given a detailed presentation on contours of the operational aspects of the planned integration. This would include how a theatre command would function in peace, conflict and maintain battle-readiness.

Under the theaterisation model, the government seeks to integrate the capabilities of the Army, Air Force and Navy and optimally utilise their resources for wars and operations. As per the theaterisation plan, each of the theatre commands will have units of the Army, the Navy and the Air Force and all of them will work as a single entity looking after security challenges in a specified geographical territory.

Officials said the top military brass also reviewed the security situation along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China, especially in eastern Ladakh sector where troops of India and China have been locked in an over four-year standoff. The commanders also reviewed the security situation along the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir. Separately, Gen Chauhan is scheduled to chair an apex level tri-service financial conference on Thursday in Delhi.

The conference is aimed at enhancing cohesion and synergy on financial issues of the armed forces and will see the participation of senior officials from the defence ministry, controller general defence accounts, integrated financial advisers of the three services and Indian Coast Guard.

Courtesy: The Tribune India: 5th Sep , 2024