Theatre Commands Are Irreversible, CDS Chauhan Informs The Military

Prime Minister Narendra Modi told the Indian military commanders on April 1 at the Combined Commanders’ Conference (CCC) in Bhopal to push for integration and operational synergy. Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) Gen Anil Chauhan has decided to personally instill the PM’s message as part of big changes coming to the military in the near future.

Gen. Anil Chauhan went to the Southern Army Command headquarters in Pune today. He had been to the Western Naval Command and the Mazagon Dockyards Limited (MDL) the days before to deliver the PM’s order and push for military theater commands.

It is thought that Gen. Chauhan’s task of joint management and integration is still being worked on by the three armed forces. Theater command and joint operations are expected to be finished in the next two years.

Gen. Chauhan went to the Eastern Army Command in Kolkata and the Central Army Command in Lucknow in the first week of April to check on the military’s readiness in the dangerous Siliguri corridor and at the Hashimara air base, where the newest French Rafale jets are based. This was at the request of PM Modi.

It is said that Gen. Chauhan will go to all 18 military commands in the country to make it clear that military theater commands are an irreversible step on the path to military change.

Even though the discussions at the CCC in Bhopal were done behind closed doors, PM Modi made it clear that the three services should work together to avoid having to do the same things for logistics, buying weapons, and fighting wars. In times of peace, the PM said, the armed forces should help with national growth and be ready for the worst-case scenario on Indian borders.

It is said that PM Modi told the forces to avoid wasting money by having different mess halls and places for troops and Agnivesers to rest and have fun. Another important lesson was that the future lies in creating military theater commands and building up India’s military-civilian industrial complex through “Atamanirbhar Bharat.”

While the CDS is also asking the chiefs what they think about the big changes, he is also looking at how ready the Indian military is for a rising China on its land borders and in the Indian Ocean.

The military leaders in the Eastern Command have been told to keep an eye on what the Chinese are doing across the LAC in order to protect the Siliguri corridor. In the case of the western borders with Pakistan, the Southern Army Command has been given similar orders.