Dissonance over creation of theatre commands

For the past two weeks, a debate is raging among military circles over the proposed creation of ‘theatre commands’. Arguments have been made favouring such a command structure, while those against cite the ‘excellent coordination’ among the armed forces during Operation Sindoor to argue a case of not needing ‘theatre commands’.

Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Anil Chauhan, whose primary task is creating ‘theatre commands’, has acknowledged ‘dissonance’ on the subject. The top brass of the three services are scheduled to meet for an annual review in Kolkata on September 15 where the CDS may have a message on the ‘way forward’.

Maybe, even PM Modi, who is scheduled to address the commanders at Kolkata, can give an opinion on the matter. In the past, he has been vocal on the issue of ‘jointness’ at such events.

Last week, Army Chief General Upendra Dwivedi joined the debate saying ‘theatre commands’ are very important and are needed for ‘executing’ all tasks during a conflict. Navy Admiral DK Tripathi shares his opinion. On August 27, speaking at the two-day brainstorming seminar at Army War College, Mhow, he said “the Navy was committed to ‘theatreisation’ as the ultimate goal”.

A day earlier to that, at the same event at Mhow, 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’ at New Delhi that would communicate decision execution to any force. He warned against disrupting the existing structure and said it was ‘not a very good idea’.

The way forward

‘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.

But before reaching the level of ‘theatre commands’ the CDS listed out 196 tasks for integration forces, of which 56 have been completed so far. These aim to improve operational efficiency and administrative effectiveness.

Already joint nodes have been created for logistics of three forces. The Parliament has passed a law empowering commanders heading tri-services organisations like theatre commands with disciplinary powers over their subordinates. The CDS is authorised to issue joint instructions and orders to the Army, Navy and Air Force. This replaces the old system where each service issued its own separate orders for multi-service matters.

A programme called “Jointness 2.0” emphasises creating a new, shared culture among the armed forces while respecting each service’s uniqueness. This involves consolidating the best practices from each service and implementing symbolic initiatives like tri-service participation in national events.

The slow down

The post of CDS formally came into being on January 1, 2020, when Gen Bipin Rawat was appointed. Gen Chauhan succeeded Gen Rawat in September 2022. In these five-plus years, the process seems to be slowed down as military transformation at this scale is being attempted for the first time in India.

At the Combined Commanders Conference at Lucknow in September last year, the military brass had suggested raising of three Integrated Theatre Commands (ITCs). The command for Northern Theatre would have its headquarters in Lucknow; the Western theatre looking at Pakistan would have its HQ in Jaipur, while a Maritime Theatre Command would be based out of Thiruvananthapuram.

The forces have a distinction between jointness and integration. Jointness entails coordination in planning, operations, training, communications and acquisitions. Integration would be the need to amalgamate different sensors, systems, weapons and networks of each service and have a common commander.

Who is the commander

There is no single authority, to ‘control’ theatre commanders. Among the possibilities is placing the theatre commanders under the CDS, or under the Defence Minister with the CDS acting as an intermediary. This would need refining the government notification of December 24, 2019, which does not empower the CDS with an operational role. The IAF Chief suggested on August 26 “let us seek an operational role for the CDS”.