THEATRE COMMANDS
Theatre commands was first introduced as a defence reforms after the appointment of THE CHIEF OF DEFENCE STAFF(CDS). According to the report of pentagon, China is rapidly modernising its war-fighting capabilities. So, in this context, Indian defence forces lacks a coordinated efforts to tackle China threat.
These are also required for better management of all the three forces- Army, Air force and Navy. All the resources of said forces will be headed by a single commander that is 4-star rank military officer. At present, India has 17 single service commands- 7 of Army, 7 of Air force and 3 of Navy, which as per SHEKATKAR COMMITTEE recommendations in 2016 included the formation of 3 INTEGRATED THEATRE COMMANDS– North, south and west. The north and west will overlook the China and Pakistan respectively while south fortify the maritime interests.
There are 19 commands in India –
- Army 7
- Air force 7
- Navy 3
- Joint commands 2
WHY IT IS REQUIRED?
Theatre commands will bring the jointness in operations, logistics, transport, training, support services and repairs and maintenance of three services. At the time of peace or war the theatre commander can concentrate on his area, and thereafter leaves him free to train his command and enhance war fighting capabilities.
It is also a fact, after the stand-off between China and India, use of surveillance, cyber warfare, space and robotics over the western and northern border will gave a clear idea of resources capabilities to theatre commander and limitations, thus, in the noise and din of a battle, he ensures the instantaneous employment of capabilities which result in greater success.
ADVANTAGES
- The commands will have a better coordination, intelligence sharing, advice and coherent conduct of operations at the time of operation.
- Training of the troops and better understand ability of equipment’s which allow specialisation.
- Integrated battle drills at all levels will also help at the time of peace or war.
- Integrated command of all three services under one entitled commander will bring on the precise decision.
- The Equipment can be maintained and mobilised easily in a short duration of time in high intensity wars.
- The officer commanding on northern and western border will have access to Air force jets and can use them when needed.
EXISTING THEATRE COMMANDS IN INDIA
There are mainly two tri-services commands present at the moment-
- ANDAMAN AND NICOBAR COMMAND (ANC)-
This theatre command is headed by CHIEF OF THE THREE SERVICES in rotation. It was created in 2001 after the Kargil war on a report of national security by a group of ministers.
- STRATEGIC FORCES COMMAND-
It was created in 2003 as a TRI-SERVICES COMMAND and is responsible for management and administration of NUCLEAR WEAPONS stockpile.
CHALLENGES FACED-
The annual combined commanders conference which was chaired by the prime minister. The three forces had individually present their opinion in the following way-
- ARMY- in favour: its time to move to the creation of integrated theatre commands which will help in fight with the adversaries on the northern and western border.
- AIRFORCE- strongly opposed- it points out that Air force doesn’t have enough resources like fighter squadrons, mid-air refuellers to allocate them to different theatre commands.
- NAVY- more nuanced- it is also not in a favour of implementing theatre commands at present because they had underlying fears about the smaller services losing their autonomy and importance.
CONCLUSION –
As the changing dynamics on the border India should look forward to make up its deficiencies and eliminate its weaknesses within the existing structure.
REFERNECES-
- Drishti IAS
- Wikipedia
Date- 09/06/2021
Day- wednesday