UPSC 2023 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)

Context

India’s first Chief of Defence Staff, late General Bipin Rawat was instrumental in laying down the foundation for joint theatre commands in India.
His successor, Lt. General Anil Chauhan has now spelt it as his priority area.
In his maiden communication with the three defence forces, the new CDS asked the Army, the Navy and the Air Force to make a move ahead toward the creation of integrated theatre commands.

What is Theaterisation?

It is a concept that seeks to integrate the capabilities of the three services — army, air force and navy — and optimally utilise their resources for wars and operations.
Specific theatre commands – or units – will be placed under the Theatre Commander.
Such commands are expected to come under the operational control of an officer from any of the three services, depending on the function assigned.

The committee, which was headed by Lt General DB Shekatkar (retd) has recommended the creation of 3 integrated theatre commands i.e.:

Northern for the China border,
Western for the Pakistan border and
Southern for the maritime role.

What will it entail?

The current theaterisation model under consideration seeks to set up at least six new integrated commands.
The first phase involves the creation of Air Defence Command and Maritime Theatre Command.
Air Defence Command: This will control air defence resources of all three services and will be tasked with protecting military assets from airborne enemies. It will be headed by a top three-star Indian Air Force officer based in Prayagraj.
Maritime Theatre Command: This will be responsible for securing India from seaborne threats and will have army and air force elements. It will be headed by a top three-star Indian Navy officer and will be based in Karwar, Karnataka.
Ultimately, India is expected to have three other integrated commands to secure its western, northern and eastern fronts.
Additionally, a logistics command is in the works to avoid duplication of efforts and resources.

How many commands does the military currently have?

The armed forces currently have 17 single-service commands spread across the country’s geography.
The Army has 7 commands, IAF has 7 commands and the Navy, 3 commands.
Creating theatres would involve merging existing commands.
The Port Blair-based Andaman and Nicobar Command is the only tri-service command.

What is the current status?

Lack of consensus: A lack of consensus on the military’s theaterisation model emerged during a key meeting of top government officials reviewing a draft cabinet note on the new joint structures.
Expert panel working in tandem: This led to the government setting up an expert committee last week for consultations and to remove differences before the reform plan is sent to the Cabinet Committee on Security for approval. The panel has members of the armed forces, defence ministry and other ministries (finance and home).

Who has reservations about the current model?

In-favor: While the army and navy are in favour of theatre commands, the IAF has concerns about the model over the division of its air assets, the nomenclature of commands, the leadership of theatre commands and dilution of powers of chiefs.
Against: The IAF’s traditional resistance to theaterisation is well-known and has been articulated by its top leadership. The expert committee is expected to hold more discussions to iron out the details of the theaterisation plan and bring all stakeholders, especially the IAF, on board.

Deliberations on the proposal are likely to take more time and previous timelines may have to be revised.

How will the role of service chiefs change?

Operational control of the theatre commands will eventually come under the CDS, with the service chiefs being responsible for raising, training and sustaining their forces.
CDS is expected to have operational control over all integrated commands when they are fully functional — this will be in his role as CDS, and not as permanent chairman, COSC.

Which other militaries have theatre commands?

Most leading militaries, including those of the US, Russia, China, UK and France, function as per the theatre command concept with the idea of seamless integration.
The US military, the world’s most powerful, has 11 combatant commands, each with a geographic or functional mission.
Similarly, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army has five theatre commands — eastern, southern, western, northern and central, with its western theatre handling the entire border with India.
Pakistan has sought Beijing’s help to reorganise its forces under the same military concept.

Why is there a need to integrate Armed Forces?

Changed nature of warfare: The nature of warfare itself has witnessed a paradigm shift in the planning and execution of operations. The modern-day wars will be fought with simultaneity in a non-linear pattern across the spectrum of land, sea and air.
Multi-pronged strategy: The execution of operations would entail well-coordinated offensive-defensive manoeuvres, net-centric operations, information warfare, cyber-attacks, possibly under nuclear overhang etc.
Magnifying security threats: India has two hostile nuclear neighbours. Additionally, there is Left Wing Extremism (LWE) in almost half the districts in the country and international power play unfolding in the Indian Ocean region (IOR) as well as the Asia-Pacific Regions.

Arguments for integrated theatre command

Better acclimatisation of troops: This aims to the given battle space, which will assist them to comprehend the operational requirements correctly in the assigned area of operation.
Training needs and administrative requirements: This can be better understood for troops, which would allow specialisation and suitable honing of battle drills at all levels.
Quick mobilization of troops: Equipment can be procured, maintained and pre-positioned for quick mobilisation and apt application during the envisaged, short-duration, high-intensity war.
Optimal use of resources: The allocation of military hardware, in terms of weapon systems, command, control and communication equipment and combat support elements will be theatre specific and result in optimisation of the resources.
Precision in combat action: Unified command of the three Services under one designated commander will allow for prompt and precise decision-making and will remove unnecessary tri-services one-man-up ship.

Challenges ahead

Perception of superiority: There is deep-rooted insecurity among the Services, arising out of loss of absolute authority over its Service, loss of identity of each Service in an integrated set up and erosion of empire within each Service. This may lead to unwillingness among the Armed Forces to integrate.
Political willingness and divided opinions: This will despite being convinced about the requirement of integration of the Armed Forces. There is a sense of reluctance arising out of insecurity to bestow the complete authority of Armed Forces with one individual.
Military hierarchy: The structure of command, i.e. who will report to who within the tri-services and joint theatre command configurations, and who will have operational command over personnel and machinery, service chiefs or theatre commanders.
Shortage of resources: Shortages within the Indian Air Force (IAF) which has only 31 operational squadrons against a modest sanctioned strength of 42, would make it difficult for the IAF to permanently station assets in a particular command with territorial boundaries.
Inter-services competition: This exists everywhere in the world wherein each service zealously oversees its own assets and strives for a greater share of the defense budget and influence might prove to be an obstacle in creating synergy among the services.
India’s limited experience: India may require a fair bit of mid-course corrections which would require problems to be timely identified and remedied, and slow down the integration process regardless.

Conclusion

Even though both merits and demerits highlight logical arguments, the truth is this was a much-needed reform in Indian Armed Forces.
Thus this integration would lead to theaterisation which would further lead to the modernization of forces. Until now, modernization was implemented from the equipment and weapons system per se but this restructuring into unified commands is the other side of modernization of forces.
Even though there is a line of difference between Jointmanship among armed forces and Integration of Armed Forces, cooperation is a prerequisite of armed forces.