New military division to handle special ops

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, July 11

India will soon set up a specialised tri-services division to handle special operations, besides agencies to monitor cyber war and space-based threats.

This was announced by Defence Secretary Sanjay Mitra at the Unified Commanders’ Conference here today. The two-day conference was attended by top military commanders of the Army, Navy and Indian Air Force. “The Defence Cyber & Space Agencies and Special Operations Division will soon become a reality,” a statement of the Ministry of Defence said.

Sources said the word “agencies” has been used to keep the structures lean, not manpower intensive and not top-heavy. In case these are set up at commands, these have to be headed by Maj General-rank officer.

The cyber war agency will look at network security issues as the forces are increasingly relying on dedicated networks to operate in a battlefield. In space, the security of satellites and their use are important. China has already tested an anti-satellite weapon to destroy satellites of other countries.

The special operations division will collate the three special operations forces of the Army, Navy and IAF.

The two-day conference was attended by Defecne Minister Arun Jaitley, National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, three Service Chiefs and senior Ministry of Defence officials.

The conference, discussed using “big data” towards insightful decision-making, and the presentation was made by the College of Defence Management. This concept has already been introduced in training curriculum of select senior military officers.

The joint curriculum in the prestigious Defence Services Staff College, one of the oldest tri-services institutions in the world, has been increased to enhance shared perspective in executing joint operations. With the purpose of making the military physical training even more scientific, a decision to incorporate sports medicine in the methodology of training cadets, recruits and combat soldiers was also taken.

In his closing remarks, Navy Chief Admiral Sunil Lanba stressed the need for synergised execution of operational plans and encouraged all to ensure rigorous cost benefit analysis while creating any new structures.