New Delhi: The three Services — Army, Navy and Air Force — are jointly working to reach a consensus on the exact structure of the theatre commands, a concept that the Modi government is firm on and will be the biggest defence reform that the forces will see.

Government sources as well as those in the defence and security establishment told ThePrint that more discussions will take place among various stakeholders in the coming weeks, and all issues will be thoroughly brainstormed.

It is expected that Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during his Independence Day address, could announce the government’s decision to adopt theaterisation as a concept.

Sources explained that if an announcement is made, the raising will start and will continue for a year. In this period, existing commanders will assume the role of theatre commanders. Formal appointment of theatre commanders will be done only after a period of one year and operationalisation will be done by 2023.

Theterisation, which seeks to unite the 17 individual Commands of the three Services into four or five joint structures, will not only lead to a joint warfare approach but will also result in cutting down of manpower and joint acquisition that will be cost-effective in the long run, sources said.

Also on the cards are joint training and new Command and Structure that will see the operation role of Service Chiefs being reduced in the coming years.

The Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) will eventually become the operational ocmmander once the process is stabilised.

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Also read: Joint military command is the future but India can’t rush into it