Theatre Commands’ Basic Structure Almost Final, Awaits Government Approval: Report

The Armed Forces have made progress in figuring out how the integrated theater leadership will work. As part of a national defense committee, which is likely to be led by the Defense Minister, they want to select theater commanders.

Officials say that the government still needs to approve the structures of the theater units. There may be more changes that need to be approved.

The goal of the theaterization plans is to set up separate theater commanders for the Army, Navy, and Indian Air Force, along with their resources.

An official said that members of the Chiefs of Staff group (COSC) will likely join the defense group that is in charge of overseeing the work of theater commanders.

The Chief of Defense Staff (CDS) and the three service chiefs make up the COSC. Its job is to make important choices about things that affect higher defense.

A government source said that as part of the plans for theaterization, a Vice CDS and a Deputy CDS will be hired. These people will be in charge of different parts of missions, planning and gathering information, training, buying things, and other things that have to do with the Defense.

In earlier talks, it was thought that the service chiefs should be in charge of recruiting, training, and maintaining troops, while the theater leaders should be in charge of operations.

However, a second official said that there are still talks going on about the service chiefs possibly keeping some operational jobs.

The official said that the basic structure of the theater commands is almost set, but that some choices still need to be made about human resources.

Officials say that the plans for theaterisation include not only changing the three service offices but also making them work together better as a whole.

It is said that three theater orders will be set up. One will face Pakistan and the other will face China. A maritime theater command will be set up to deal with maritime threats outside of the country’s coastal limits. It is planned that these theater commanders will be located in Jaipur, Lucknow, and Karwar.

Cyber, space, and the special operations section are some of the tri-service agencies that are being talked about as possible future additions to a fourth theater command. These agencies would be made orders as a result, but the plan is still just being talked about.

There have already been some cross-postings between the Army, Navy, and IAF to help them work together better. An official said that the changes to the headquarters and following postings will happen after getting final approval from the government.

There are seven commands in the Army and the Indian Air Force (IAF). The Navy has three commands. Along with the Headquarters Integrated Defence Staff (HQIDS), there are also two tri-service commands: the Andaman and Nicobar Command and the Strategic Forces Command (SFC).

It is likely that one of the regular commands from each of the three forces will be promoted to a theater command. The Andaman and Nicobar Command will be added to the marine theater command, and the HQIDS will be put under the CDS. This is still being talked about.

We will make sure that the SFC stays independent while it keeps running its business.

The other commands will keep watching over their own operational theaters, with a focus on making it easier for the three services to work together in important areas like information, logistics, training, and infrastructure.

CDS General Anil Chauhan is in charge of the theaterization plans, which look at how theaters could be used in different kinds of operations. For this reason, the three services have had many discussions, studies, and tabletop activities.

It’s still not clear who will lead each theater command. An air defense command was supposed to be set up as part of earlier plans for theaterization, but the Indian Air Force (IAF) said no because it would split up their fighting forces.