Representational image | Recruits to the J&K Light Infantry celebrate the end of their training |
New Delhi: The Integrated Defence Staff headquarters is giving final touches to its planned Joint Services Training Institutes (JSTIs), which will offer joint training to Army, Navy and Air Force officers in select subjects, ThePrint has learnt.
Intelligence, military law, nuclear biological chemical warfare (CBRN), music and catering are among the subjects in which the officers will be trained jointly, said sources.
The JSTIs will operate from existing institutes where the services currently train. Each JSTI will have one of the three services leading the institute. For instance, the Army will be the lead service for the JSTIs for CBRN and intelligence, said sources.
According to a senior government official, the JSTIs for CBRN, music, catering, military law and intelligence have been established. However, the services are finalising their draft government sanction letter.
“Additionally, the School of Foreign Languages will also function as a JSTI. The institute, which sees officers of the armed forces from other countries, plays a key role in defence cooperation that is an important facet of military diplomacy where expertise in foreign languages such as Mandarin or Russian is critical,” the official said on condition of anonymit
Set up in 1948, the School of Foreign Languages was brought under the administrative control of the Integrated Defence Staff headquarters in 2017.
A joint training command for the three services planned earlier, however, may be delayed, and is likely to be taken up in the next phase amid greater focus on first implementing the major theatre commands, like the Air Defence Command.
ThePrint reported last year the plans to set up a joint training command to meet the training requirements of all the three services.
But now, the focus is on reaching low hanging fruits by merging certain disciplines for joint training of the services to begin with, senior government officials told ThePrint.
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