NEW DELHI: “From time to time the superstructure of tactics has to be altered or wholly torn down; but the old foundations of strategy so far remain, as though laid upon a rock.” -- Alfred Thayer Mahan
The rapid infusion of technology into warfare is not only enhancing the performance of arms and equipment but also stimulating the consequent changes in induction, tactics and deployments. In India, a lot of tweaking is taking place in the Army, Navy and Air Force, many of them initiated by the Head Quarter Integrated Defence Staff (HQ IDS).
The direction is towards synergy and integration so as to eventually align with the higher defence management structures. The country’s war waging structure/machinery is being moulded to make it suitable for technologically driven modern warfare.
A Future Analysis & Operations Group (FAOG) has been created under the HQ IDS, which works as a nodal organisation for jointmanship in the Ministry of Defence where the integration of policy, doctrine, war fighting and procurement is work in progress.
A Standing Committee on Defence on the ‘Demands for Grants of the Ministry of Defence for 2025-26, in its Seventh Report (18th Lok Sabha) first revealed the formation of FAOG. The panel agreed that the defence modernisation budget cannot be predicted to a large extent, and underscored the need for intensive study and knowledge of emerging trends in technology that will have an impact on the art of warfare. Three such emerging sectors shared by the ministry with the panel are robotics automation, velocity (which uses hypersonic drones, etc.) and intelligence warfare (includes artificial intelligence, data analytics and machine learning).
The report also revealed that a Future Warfare Fund has been set up within the armed forces. A Future Analysis Group for studying future technologies and their impact, is also proposed to be set up. Commending the proactive efforts of the ministry, the committee recommended that adequate budgetary provisions for research and development in this direction be made available to the armed forces.
As per sources, the fund and the group are part of the ongoing reorganisation of the structures of the armed forces and the HQ. The stimulus for FAOG were the changes in warfare and lessons drawn from recent wars like the Russia-Ukraine, Hamas-Israel, Azerbaijan-Armenia, the sources added.
A direction was sent to all the services to create a similar set-up on modern warfare in their structures and allocate resources. The FAOG started functioning about six months back and the Future Warfare Fund was created to “join hands with the agencies, think tanks, academics, research institutes and specialists for their recommendation, direction and guidance to empower FAOG”.
The FAOG will club ideas from the services and build synergy. Ultimately, it is expected to assist with reorientation, re-orbatting (reorganising and redeploying existing military units) and re-equipping the forces. The FAOG has a clear responsibility with accountability, the sources said.
The HQ IDS was raised on October 1, 2001 to provide an institutional framework for managing defence at the highest level. Its purpose is to integrate the three Services and other relevant elements in the quest for credible and comprehensive national power. Other structural changes are in process.
Force restructuring is an essential and ongoing initiative to effectively align organisational structures with emerging threats and technological advancements. The Eighth Report (18th Lok Sabha) of the Standing Committee on Defence, cites an army officer as saying, “The Indian Army has successfully implemented significant reorganisations within its Cyber, Electronic Warfare and Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Units.
Furthermore, the Indian Army will establish new combat units and headquarters that prioritise emerging technologies including manned and unmanned teams. We are also committed to meeting the evolving requirements of theaterisation and greater integration with the other two Services.
Force structuring aims to keep pace with the requirements of contemporary and future battlefields. Rebalancing is now looking at review of structures and command and control, beside training orientation of the Indian Army schools of instruction. It will further look at implementation of new structures and capability building to conduct multi-domain operations that are mandated due to emerging interdependencies.”
Structural transformation: Work in progress
The Indian military’s war fighting structures are at present led by the military commands of the individual services. Eventually, the Army, Navy and Air Force will dovetail into the Integrated Theatre Commands (ITCs). The concept of theatre command is to meet the requirements of modern warfare. It will have structures based on integrated planning and operations under one unified authority with responsibility and accountability. These structures will have components of different wings placed under one commander instead of their own Service Chiefs.
The proposed ITC structures will be created from the existing command structure of each Service. At present, the three armed forces function with 17 independent commands: Army and Air Force have seven commands each while the Navy has three commands.
For context, China in 2016 reorganised its seven military regions into five theatre commands with the Indian border falling into the operational responsibility of its Western Theatre Command.
Army overhaul
Plans to overhaul the headquarters of the world’s second-largest Army received final approval in July 2019. The aim was to transform it into a more lethal force to meet the desired offensive and defensive capabilities of modern warfare. The whole exercise was done in four parts - restructuring the headquarters, reorganising the Army, cadre review of officers, and enhancing the colour service (active service, not reserve) of soldiers.
This newspaper was the first to report that the headquarters freed up 129 officers of the ranks of Major and Lt Colonels to join the fighting formation in field areas. In all, 1,332 officers, including the Chief of Army Staff, were earlier posted at Army HQ. That figure was trimmed to 1,203 in the revamp. Within the headquarters, various posts and departments doing the same work were either done away with or pruned and merged with other verticals.
Among the changes made were the merger of the Director General Military Training (headed by a Lt General) with the Army Training Command and being now managed by a Major General. Similarly, the Rashtriya Rifles, based out of Delhi was moved to the Northern Command, Udhampur for better operational coordination, as this force of the 63 battalions operates in Kashmir. Also, it is now headed by a Major General instead of a Lt General.
Besides, a new post of the Deputy Chief of Army Staff (Strategy) was carved out to oversee the work of Military Operations, Military Intelligence and Operational Logistics, and Information Warfare. This is meant to reduce the burden on the vice chief’s office.
All these changes were introduced following a study. Based on its recommendations, the terms of employment of soldiers and Junior Commissioned Officers (JCOs) and the officers have also been revamped. To retain trained soldiers, the minimum compulsory service period was raised to the 17 years as against the earlier 15 years.
Similarly, an officer now will become a Colonel sooner - in 23 years instead of 25-26 years. On the operational front, the fighting formation of Integrated Battle Groups (IBG), which will hit the enemy fast and with overwhelming firepower, will eventually come up. Sources said the work on it is almost done.
Cyber and Special Forces Divisions
The Armed Forces Special Operations Division (AFSOD) is taking shape with the wargaming of specialised scenarios to develop drills and operating procedures so that the special forces of each service can operate jointly. Commando integration exercises are on to develop common operational procedures. Given the sensitivity and significance of the special forces, it will take some time to reach the specialised level, sources added.
The AFSOD, approved in 2019, comprises the special forces of the Army, Navy and Air Force. As reported by this newspaper earlier, AFSOD initially will have about 3,000 special forces commandos from the Parachute Regiment of the Army, MARCOS of the Navy and the Garud Commandos of the Air Force. It is expected to be based in Agra, which already is the base of the Parachute Brigade.
The initial proposal was to raise a strategic level formation with the Special Forces Command headed by a Lt General. As of now, the Division is under the control of the Integrated Defence Staff headed by the Chief of Defence Staff. Although the Naresh Chandra Task Force had in 2012 recommended the creation of a cyber command, an aerospace command and Special Operations Command, it was Prime Minister Narendra Modi who announced its formation in 2018. The Defence Cyber Agency was created in 2018.
Doctrinal changes for jointness
Joint doctrines are also in the making. Chief of Defence Staff Gen Anil Chauhan released the Joint Doctrine for Cyberspace Operations on June 18, 2024, in New Delhi. It is a keystone publication that will guide Commanders in conducting cyberspace operations.