INTEGRATED THEATRE COMMANDS

June 27, 2021

Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Bipin Rawat recently chaired a meeting with the Vice Chiefs of the three Services (Indian Army, Indian Navy and Indian Air Force), Chief of Integrated Defence Staff and representatives from the Ministries of Defence, Home and Finance for the creation of “Integrated Theatre Commands”.

About:

  • The three basic components of Indian defence forces are the army, navy and air force, each with its unique fighting profile, separate heads and multiple commands that are vertically split in terms of their command structure.

  • The Indian Army and Indian Air Force have seven commands each while the Indian Navy has three commands.

  • These commands are scattered across the nation and don’t coincide geographically.

  • The proposed four theatre commands: air defence, maritime, integrated eastern and integrated western theatre commands, will promote ‘jointness’ among the three branches of the armed forces.

  • It will ensure increased coordination to boost the overall fighting capabilities of the Indian armed forces, create capacities to adapt to the requirements of hybrid warfare along with seamless command centres to meet future challenges.