As reported in The Tribune, the proposed formation of theatre commands for the Indian armed forces now has new contours

A top military official on Thursday confirmed that more than 90 per cent of the planning for the creation of theatre commands — a new structure for the Indian Armed forces — has been completed.

The Tribune has reported in its print edition on Thursday morning that fresh contours of the theatre commands have emerged with a wider role for the Indian Air Force (IAF).

Air Marshal Ashutosh Dixit, the immediate subordinate of the Chief of Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan who has been tasked with tri-service jointness, integration and operational synergy, said, “Our move towards joint structures and Theatre Commands — with planning now reported to be more than 90 per cent complete — is a historic opportunity.”

Air Marshal Dixit warned that structures alone did not guarantee synergy. Cultural integration was what that made the structures come alive. “Jointness must evolve from mere coordination to genuine unity of effort. That requires transparency in information-sharing, clarity of authority, and most fundamentally mutual trust,” he added.

He was making the opening keynote address at the two-day (April 9-10) brainstorming session ‘Ran Samwad’ which started here.

‘Theatre commands’ is a military jargon for creating geographically defined area of operations, with a military commander heading it and controlling all war-fighting assets like planes, copter, guns, tanks, equipment and manpower.

As reported in The Tribune, the proposed formation of theatre commands for the Indian armed forces now has new contours. 

The Western Theatre, focused on Pakistan, will be headed by an Indian Air Force (IAF) officer while the Northern Theatre, focused on China, will have an Army officer as its head. The Maritime Theatre Command, on expected lines, would be headed by a Navy officer.

The plan will need a nod from the Ministry of Defence and also the Cabinet Committee on Security.

These fresh contours mean the IAF has been proposed to be the permanent lead for the Western Command. This has come after looking at the devastation the IAF strikes caused during Operation Sindoor in May last year. The allocation of ‘theatre commands’ is more or less fixed and there is unlikely to be any rotation. The previous  proposal featured rotation between the IAF and the Army.

The military also proposes to have a Vice Chief of Defence Staff with deputy commanders of all theatres who will be from another service.

The current CDS will retire in May this year, and he could present the fresh proposal before his tenure ends.

The key issue will be THE division of IAF assets. Some of these strategic assets could be controlled from Delhi for seamless operation across the theatres.

Incidentally, the developments come ahead of the second edition of ‘Ran Samwad’.

During the last edition of Ran Samwad in August last year, a sharp difference of opinion had emerged among the military top brass on the proposed structure of ‘theatre commands’. Navy Chief Admiral DK Tripathi had batted in favour of having ‘theatreisation’ as a goal while the IAF Chief, Air Chief Marshal AP Singh, had cautioned against having ‘theatre commands’ for now.  The IAF chief had suggested a different format for military coordination, one led at the level of the service Chiefs.

The CDS, General Anil Chauhan, had acknowledged ‘dissonance’ on the subject and added that it was being ‘resolved’.