NEW DELHI: The process of raising the staff and structure has been set rolling as the individual services have been asked to nominate one officer as the Theatre Commander, who will be entrusted the duty of creating positions according to the task and hierarchy.
It will take two-three years for the complete structure to take shape. “The Theatre Commander will have his staff officers, including Deputy Theatre Commander, who will be the Commander of the Commands which will get subsumed into the said theatre command,” he added.
A government source informed, “Services have been told to nominate one Theatre Commander each from the Army, Navy and Air Force. In the case of the Army, the Western Army Commander has been nominated to hold the dual charge of Army Commander and Theatre Commander.” The Air Force and Navy are in the process of finalising, said the source.
Initially, there will be four Theatre Commands — Western Theatre Command and Eastern Theatre Command (handling operations against China) on land and one each for air and maritime. “The Northern Command and AOC Jammu and Kashmir under the Western Air Command have been excluded and a decision on it will be taken subsequently,” said the source. The Northern Command handles borders with both Pakistan and China.