NEW DELHI: Army Chief General Upendra Dwivedi has asserted that theaterisation of the Indian Armed Forces will definitely happen even if it takes time.
“Since battle is fought by multiple agencies, theaterisation is the answer to deal with them,” he said on Friday while interacting with media after launching a book, ‘Operation Sindoor: The Untold Story of India’s Deep Strikes Inside Pakistan’, at Manekshaw Centre.
The process of theaterisation was initiated as the present system of the 17 independent commands — seven of the Army, seven of the Air Force and three of the Navy — spread out geographically was considered unsuitable for modern war. For an integrated approach, the government decided to go for the biggest post-Independence military restructuring.
The Army Chief’s remarks come nearly two weeks after Air Chief Marshal AP Singh argued against creating an entirely new structure at this stage. “There is no need for another layer of command. We can begin with joint planning mechanisms and see how they function,” Singh said.
Asked about his stand on theaterisation, the Army Chief said, “Theaterisation will come, today or tomorrow. We just have to see how long it will take. We have to go through certain steps to bring in theaterisation, which includes jointness, integration. A lot of things need to be discussed over for that.”
General Dwivedi said military restructuring is necessary. “When we fight a battle, an Army doesn’t fight alone. We have Border Security Force and Indo-Tibetan Border Police. Then there are the tri-services, defence cyber agencies, defence space agencies, and now we are talking about cognitive warfare agencies.
Besides, there are agencies such as the ISRO, Civil Defence, Civil Aviation, Railways, NCC, state and Central administrations... If one has to deal with so many agencies, theaterisation is the answer. Because unity of command is more important. You need one commander to achieve coordination in execution. Theaterisation is absolutely necessary,” he asserted.
The Air Chief had stressed the importance of crafting an India-specific model rather than emulating foreign systems. “We can’t simply copy countries like China or the US. We must assess our own requirements. We shouldn’t feel pressured to act hastily,” he said.
Biggest post-Independence military restructuring
The process of theaterisation was initiated as the present system of the 17 independent commands spread out geographically was considered unsuitable for modern war. For an integrated approach, the government decided to go for the biggest post-Independence military restructuring.