With the aim of fighting the modern-day war cohesively, the Government has formed a committee of three Vice Chiefs to find ways to expedite the formation of theatre commands.
In the beginning, there will be two such units including the Maritime Theatre Command and Air Defence Command. The US and China have such organisations to meet any challenge.
The committee will hold discussion with other Ministries, including Home and Finance, to realise the ultimate objective of winning the war using all resources optimally in a seamless manner. The final recommendations of the committee will then be considered by the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS).
Apart from the Maritime and Air Defence commands, the plan is to have three other such units. They are Northern Land Theatre (Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh and Central sector), Western Land Theatre (Pakistan) and Eastern Land Theatre. The Northern and Eastern commands will focus on China, besides Pakistan. A proposal is also there for having a logistics and training command.
The theatre commander may be from any of the three services and will lead specific units of the Army, navy and air force forming that theatre. Similarly, some commands will also absorb paramilitary forces which are controlled by the home ministry. Also, the Coast Guard will be part of the Maritime Command.
Giving details of the efforts on to have the theatre commands, sources said here on Friday the decision to form the committee was taken earlier this week.
The concept of the theatre commands was mooted three years back to effectively use resources of all the three Services and other related organisations. At present, the Army, Navy and IAF have their own commands totaling 20 besides the joint tri-service Andaman and Nicobar Command and the Strategic Forces Command. The latter command looks after the nuclear arsenal.
The proposal is to merge some of the commands of the three services into one entity for better utilisation of assets and manpower and avoiding wastage. As regards the need for wide ranging discussions by the committee, sources said since paramilitary forces are in the domain of the home ministry, their views have also to be taken.
Moreover, the formation of the new commands will involve some expenditure and therefore the Finance Ministry nod is crucial to move ahead without a hitch, they said. The Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) will be the over all commander of the commands.