Centre to ask next CDS to take all on board, avoid controversy

The next Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) will have to pick up the threads and carry on the task his predecessor General Bipin Rawat left unfinished when he died in the helicopter crash in Tamil Nadu – 'theaterization' of the military commands to enhance 'jointness' among the army, navy and air force.

The government will expect the new CDS to go full steam ahead to implement the proposed military reforms, taking all stakeholders, especially the three service chiefs, on board and avoiding any controversy.

General Rawat, who also held the office of the Secretary of Department of Military Affairs, had a meeting with the three service chiefs a few weeks back and advanced the deadline from September 2022 to April 2022 for the army, navy and air force to conclude internal studies and submit their reports and views on the proposal of creation of the theatre commands.

A source said that the Ministry of Defence expected the theatre commands to be in place in two or three years and would like to stick to the timeline. General Rawat's death in the helicopter crash created a void in the top echelon of the military establishment, but the government would fill it up soon and would not allow the reform initiatives spearheaded by him to lose momentum, the source told the DH in New Delhi.

The differences within the military establishment over basic structure of the theatre commands came to public domain earlier this year when General Rawat said that the Indian Air Force (IAF) remained a supporting arm of the ground forces just like the artillery or the engineers support the combatant arm in the army. The then IAF chief, Air Chief Marshal R K S Bhadauria, however, publicly argued that the air force had a greater role to play in any integrated theatre.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh recently stressed that inputs of all stakeholders must be taken into consideration to bring about reforms in the military structure and enhance jointness among the armed forces.

The proposed 'theaterization' of the armed forces will integrate all the 17 single-service commands into at least five Theatre Commands – an Air Defence Command led by the IAF, a Maritime Theatre Command led by the Indian Navy and three land theatre commands led by the Indian Army. The Eastern Theatre Command and Northern Theatre Command led by the Indian Army will be tasked to respond to any threat from across the disputed India-China boundary. The Western Theatre Command, which will also be led by the Indian Army, will defend the disputed and undisputed stretches of India-Pakistan border. A training command and a logistics command have also been proposed. The number and nature of the commands have not yet been finalized though.

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