Dinesh Kumar
IT is imperative that the government appoint a Joint Services Chief in the form of a Chief of Defence Staff as a principal military advisor to the government; restructure the armed forces into joint Commands; and also restructure the Ministry of Defence (MoD) by appointing officers of the armed forces into the ministry.
Clearly, there is an urgent need for joint policy and operational planning, for coordinated responses to the vast spectrum of India's security challenges, and for optimising on resources which include expensive weapon systems with greater lethal firepower and range. As a regional power, the armed forces also need to be better positioned to engage in power projection and handle out of area contingencies.
For this, India needs to disband the 17 single-service Commands and reorganise them into a mix of integrated Theatre Commands and integrated Functional Commands that could be bi-service and tri-service depending on their operational jurisdiction. A start has already been made by creating a Theatre Command after upgrading the Fortress Andaman and Nicobar or FORTAN into the Andaman and Nicobar Command and establishing the Strategic Forces Command, an equipment-based Functional Command. But this is not enough. All Theatre and Functional Commands would report to the CDS. There is much debate whether the CDS in India should be a four star or a five star general and whether he should don a uniform different from that of the other three Services.
In addition the Theatre/Regional Commands, the government could consider raising an Out of Area Contingency Command (OOAC). The evacuation of Indians during the two Gulf Wars, Lebanon and Libya; the increased involved in UN Peace Support Operations, patrolling of the Malacca Strait and in the Indian Ocean by Indian warships and operations such as Cactus in the Maldives are some examples.
There is little doubt that India's area of interest extends from the eastern coast of Africa in the West to Sumatra in the east and the Indian Ocean in the south. India cannot ignore Chinese forays in the Indian Ocean along with its increasing influence in the Ocean's littoral states. Considering that military power is a key parameter for a country that wishes to assume a major role at the global level, India needs to think and plan big if it has to someday act big. But more than being a global player, India's size, location and security concerns require a major restructuring of its armed forces.
Theatre Command
Option-I
How the Theatre / Regional Commands can be structured:
Western Theatre Command: This could either be a bi-Service operational Command after merging the Army's Northern, Western and South Western Command and integrating them with a merged Western Air Command and the Southwestern Air Command. Or, it could be a tri-Service Command after adding the Navy's Western Command
Eastern Theatre: This could either be a bi-Service operational Command after merging the Army's Central and Eastern Command and integrating them with the IAF's merged Central and Eastern Command. Or, it could be a tri-Service Command after adding the Navy's Eastern Command.
Southern Theatre or Indian Ocean Theatre: This can be formed after integrating the Army, Navy and IAF's respective Southern Commands
Central Theatre: Both to serve as a reserve and to handle Out Of Area Contingencies/asymmetric warfare
Option-II
Northern Theatre: A bi-Service Army, IAF Command catering for China and Nepal.
Western Theatre: A tri-Service Command catering for Pakistan, Afghanistan and beyond.
Eastern Theatre: A tri-Service Command catering for China, Nepal, Bangladesh, South East Asia.
Southern Theatre: A bi-Service Command comprising the Navy and the IAF with a limited Army component catering for Sri Lanka, Littoral Africa and the Middle East.
Out of Area Contingency Command: For asymmetric warfare and to serve as a reserve.
