Jointness will not erase forces’ identity: Rajnath

Terming jointness among the three armed forces as a “core operational necessity”, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday said joint-operations during Operation Sindoor, delivered ‘decisive results’ and that success must become a ‘benchmark’ for future operations.The minister was speaking at a seminar on ‘fostering greater jointness’ hosted by the Indian Air Force (IAF).

Highlighting the efficacy of joint operations during Operation Sindoor with Pakistan, Singh said, “The synergy between the tri-services produced a unified, real-time operational picture. It empowered commanders to take timely decisions, enhanced situational awareness, and reduced the risk of fratricide. This is the living example of jointness delivering decisive results and this success must become the benchmark for all future operations.”

The event comes two weeks after Prime Minister Narendra Modi 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 military terms, jointness is the first step towards creating ‘theatre commands’. It entails coordination in planning, operations, training, communications and acquisitions.

This is to be followed by integration or the need to amalgamate different sensors, systems, weapons and networks of each service. The creation of a common commander – called the theatre commander -- for execution of tasks is the next step.

The minister was also categorical about the government’s objective to promote jointness and integration among the three-services – the Army, IAF and the Navy.

He emphasised that it was not only a matter of policy, but a matter of survival in the fast-changing security environment.

“The evolving character of warfare makes jointness a core operational necessity rather than a matter of choice… No single service can operate in isolation. Interoperability and jointness are now essential for success in any conflict,” he asserted.

The defence minister, however, clarified that jointness did not mean erasing the unique identity of each service. “Integration must respect uniqueness of each force. We cannot impose uniformity where it does not fit. Our task is to create a shared baseline that preserves uniqueness, while building interoperability”.

He said that personnel of each service must feel that others understand their challenges, and every tradition must be honoured while building the new systems.

“Each services possesses capacity to respond independently. However, the interconnected nature of war makes collaborative strength a true guarantor of victory,” he added.

The Defence Minister further announced that work had begun on having a joint ‘logistics application’, which will integrate systems of the three services to provide shared visibility of stocks, optimise cross-service resources and reduce redundant procurement.

Singh said that in today’s security climate, compartmentalisation must give way to open sharing and collective learning. He warned that in critical domains such as aviation safety and cyber warfare, divergence in standards could prove disastrous.

“Even a minor error in inspection can create cascading effects. If our cyber defence systems differ across services, adversaries can exploit the gap,” he added.