Theatre commanders will be responsible for operations and war fighting and not service chiefs: CDS General Chauhan in book

Just days after the skirmish with Pakistan, the Chief of Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan has penned his thoughts in a book on how to fight future wars and laid down a blueprint that theatre commanders and not the chiefs of the services will be responsible for operations and war fighting.

He mentioned the need for ‘deliberation’ and ‘diligent prognosis’.

The General has come out with a book ‘Ready, Relevant and Resurgent: A Blueprint for the Transformation of India’s Military’. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh released the book here on Thursday. It offers insights into the ongoing transformation of the Indian armed forces to meet the demands of the 21st century warfare.

Giving a firm opinion on the transformation and creation of ‘theatre commands’ – that will integrate all manpower and equipment in geographical area under one commander— the CDS says, “Theatre commander will have the responsibility of force application (that is to fight wars and conduct operations), whereas chiefs of the armed forces will be responsible for what is colloquially called the “raise, train and sustain (RTS) function”.

In other words, the service chiefs will not be responsible for fighting wars or conducting operations.

The transformation, says the CDS, will trigger new operational and administrative challenges. The acceptability of the change will only happen once officers at all levels are aware of the impending changes.

An essential prerequisite for the establishment of theatre commands is a high degree of jointness amongst the three services and physical integration of several processes, activities and essential infrastructure, writes the CDS.

The book articulates a vision for building a ‘future ready’ force. The CDS writes “future of warfare itself needs deliberation, diligent prognosis and an informed assimilation”.