India’s top military commanders on Wednesday held extensive deliberations in Lucknow on the Government’s ambitious plans to create ‘Integrated Theatre Commands’ and assessed overall national security challenges including the ones along the frontiers with China and Pakistan.
Chaired by the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), General Anil Chauhan, with chiefs of the Army, Navy and the Air Force and other top military officers in attendance, the deliberations primarily focused on setting up of joint command and control centres and logistics nodes, on the inaugural day of the two-day maiden joint commanders conference, being held in Lucknow, officials said.
In his opening address, General Chauhan stressed the need for operational preparedness to meet emerging challenges, underscoring the need of modernisation to stay combat-ready and relevant and achieve strategic autonomy.
The theme of the maiden joint commanders’ conference is ‘Sashakt and Surakshit Bharat: Transforming Armed Forces.’ The deliberations on ensuring synergy among the armed forces on various aspects including financial planning, joint logistics infrastructure are taking place amid the Government’s ambitious plans to roll out theatre commands.
Under the theaterisation model, the Government seeks to integrate the capabilities of the Army, the Air Force and the Navy and optimally utilise their resources for wars and operations.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will address the apex-level military leadership at the conference on Thursday. “The conference is focused on shaping the future of India’s military to adapt to the changing operational milieu,” the Defence Ministry said. Reviewing the current security situation and the defence preparedness of the armed forces, General Chauhan emphasised the importance of integration and future planning for enhancing integration across various domains.
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Top military brass deliberates on joint command, control centres
The Chief of Defence Staff said integration of the three services is crucial for adapting to the contours of future warfare and conduct of “effect-based operations”, the Ministry said in a statement.
General Chauhan complimented the three services for initiating numerous measures along the roadmap for integration. He stressed that it was a step by step process, beginning with cross-service co-operation leading to a ‘joint culture’ and finally achieving integration of forces for conduct of joint operations.”
The deliberations also focused on establishment of command and control centres with the requisite infrastructure to facilitate decision making.
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.
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, it was learnt.
Separately, General 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.
