With the aim to pave the way for creation of long pending unified theatre commands, the government has finally notified the inter -services organisations, Command, Control and Discipline Act. So what exactly does unified theatre commands mean?
Simply put, it is bringing Army, Navy and Air Force personnel and assets together under joint command. India currently has 17 single service commands. The goal of the theatre command is to increase cooperation between the three components of the armed forces, namely Army, Navy and Air Force.
A unified command will be established and headed by a single commander in place of separate commands for the Army, Navy and Air Force. In present times, when China continues to rapidly modernise its war fighting capabilities, Indian armed forces are seemingly lacking behind in various fronts when it comes to coordinated approach. In such a scenario, creation of a unified theatre command is needed. Presently, the Andaman and Nicobar command is the only integrated theatre command in India which was formed in 2001 after the Kargil War.
It is a small command with limited resources and there has been a demand to revert the control of the command permanently to the Navy. So what exactly is a theatre command? A theatre command is an organisational structure are designed to control all military assets in a theatre of war to achieve military effects. A joint command is called a theatre command in military parlance. It places the resources of all forces at the command of a senior military commander.
There have also been views against the integration of the three commands. One view says that there has been no occasion during the actual warfare when the three services have not cooperated in a commendable way. The other view against the integration says that there is no need for a new organization when an increased communication network would increase the interaction between three organizations, they can come on board with better communication network. So, there is no need for a new organisation.
So, what are the major challenges posed by the present structure?
One major challenge is that none of the present 17 commands is co-located at the same station nor are there areas of operational responsibility contiguous. There has been a demand for other integrated functional commands such as cyber, aerospace and special operations command but the government is yet to approve any.
