Evolve joint military vision and prepare for the unexpected, says Rajnath; top commanders discuss theaterisation

In his remarks at the maiden joint commanders conference here, Singh, touching upon the ongoing conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza as well as the situation in Bangladesh, exhorted the military to analyse these 'episodes' and stay prepared to deal with the 'unexpected'.

Lucknow: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday asked the top commanders of the armed forces to evolve a “joint military vision”, “prepare for the unexpected” and develop capabilities in “space and electronic warfare” even as a blueprint for setting up of integrated theatre commands is understood to have been shared with the minister.

Altering the forces to prepare for all types of challenges in future warfare at the first Joint Commanders Conference in Lucknow, Singh stressed on the significance of evolving "joint military vision" and "synergised, swift and proportionate" response to provocations.

Referring to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine and Israel-Hamas conflicts and the current situation in Bangladesh, he directed the commanders to analyse these episodes, predict the problems that India may face in the future, and stay prepared to deal with the “unexpected”.

A defence ministry spokesperson said “theaterisation” in the context of national security and “future capability building” was indeed discussed by the top brass including Chief of the Defence Staff Gen Anil Chauhan, the Chiefs and Vice Chiefs of the Indian Army, Navy and Air Force and other GOCs of the commands.

The official, however, did not elaborate on the nature of deliberation that took place to form such commands, which if realised, will be the country’s biggest military reform.

India currently has 19 military commands, out of which 17 are distributed between the Indian Army (7), Indian Navy (3) and IAF (7). The remaining two are tri-service Andaman and Nicobar Command and Strategic Forces Command under the Integrated Defence Staff.

For better military planning, the Centre wants to reduce the number of individual commands and replace them with integrated theatre commands with elements of the army, air force and navy in each command depending on the nature of the enemy the theatres face.

The task creating such a command structure by bringing everyone on board was entrusted to the first CDS Gen Bipin Rawat. His successor Gen Chauhan now leads the theaterisation initiative.

The board plan is to create two theatre commands for the Pakistan and China fronts besides a maritime one. Each of the commands will have elements of the air force. There can also be joint commands for training and logistics.

However, there are still several missing pieces that need to be fitted before the ambitious plan gets a nod from the Union Cabinet. The opposition from within the IAF that stands to lose the maximum is also to be overcome.

Another contentious issue is the ranks of the Commander-in-Chief of the theatre commands as the current proposal is to make them four-star officers just like the three Service chiefs and the CDS.

Gen Chauhan said integration 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 focus of the conference was on future capability building including organisation structures for joint and integrated response and ushering in efficiency, transparency and accountability. Deliberations spanned across a broad spectrum of contemporary issues such as theaterisation, indigenisation and technological developments,” the spokesperson said.

Besides space and e-warfare, Singh asked commanders also to develop capability in artificial intelligence, robotics and data tools because these technologies could decide the course of a war to a great extent.