Defence Ministry told to take concrete steps for jointness of forces

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday instructed the Ministry of Defence to swiftly implement ‘concrete steps’ to achieve greater jointness among forces to meet future challenges and prevail against any eventuality.

In his first address to the top-brass since the skirmish with Pakistan in May, Modi spoke to the officers of the three armed forces at the combined commanders’ conference in Kolkata.

In line with 2025 being the ‘Year of Reforms’, Modi instructed the Ministry of Defence to swiftly implement concrete steps to achieve greater jointness, self-reliance and innovation to meet future challenges and prevail against any eventuality, the Ministry of Defence said.

The PM’s instructions have come just weeks after the Chiefs of the three armed forces differed on the issue of going ahead with ‘theatre commands’ but had expressed the need for ‘jointness’.

Modi also reviewed the security situation and operational preparedness of the armed forces. The PM complimented the forces for the success of Operation Sindoor, while he was briefed about the ‘new normal’ created by the operation. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will address the commanders tomorrow.

Held once in two years, this CCC is the apex-level brainstorming forum of the armed forces, which brings together the nation’s top civilian and military leadership to exchange views and lay the groundwork for the future development of India’s military preparedness.

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Over the last few weeks, Army Chief General Upendra Dwivedi has said ‘theatre commands’ were very important.

Speaking at the two-day seminar at Army War College in Mhow on August 27, Navy Chief Admiral DK Tripathi had said that the Navy was committed to ‘theatreisation’ as the ultimate goal”.

A day earlier at the same event, Air Chief Marshal AP Singh advised against creating theatre commands, saying, “We, for now, don’t need any new structure.” The IAF Chief suggested a ‘joint planning and coordination centre’ in New Delhi that would communicate decisions for execution by any force.

In military terms, jointness, is a step towards creating ‘theatre commands’ and it entails coordination in planning, operations, training, communications and acquisitions. This has to be followed by integration or need to amalgamate different sensors, systems, weapons and networks of each service and have a common commander – the theatre commander -- for execution of tasks.

‘Theatre commands’ – the nomenclature -- is military jargon for creating geographically defined area of operations. It would have a single military commander controlling all war-fighting assets of three armed forces like planes, copter, guns, tanks, equipment, ships, missiles and manpower. This is visualised as a self-contained formation.

For achieving jointness and integration the Chief of Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan listed 196 tasks for integration of forces, off which some 56 have been completed, so far.