Theatre Commands: Some Food For Thought

NEW DELHI: Four years after the post of Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) was announced as part of the move to usher in defence reforms, the process towards theaterisation or forming integrated commands is progressing apace. There is broad consensus among the military brass for creation of three theatre commands-one for the China border, another for Pakistan and the third to look after the maritime domain. But what should the structure, command and control of those theatre commands be? In this episode of ‘Simply Nitin’, StratNews Global Editor-in-Chief Nitin A. Gokhale takes a look at the practices prevalent in the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia and explains why India needs a model of its own.
#military #theatrecommands #india #cds #cdsanilchauhan
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[@mayureshkolhatkar2357]

Very rich discussion. Thank you for all the quality videos.

[@astronv]

Specialist units in Comm, Cyber, Air & Space defense, Defense Intelligence, logistics and even Special Ops can be cross functionally trained with no affiliation to a particular service branch. Hopefully this will lend itself to flexibility in optimally, where possible,assigning and rotating resources between theater commands. I don’t believe we can fully remove specialization and generically train everybody across the board, but a sweet spot probably can be found. There has been some developments in creating ‘Joint’ units in that regard, but recruitment, training and deployment should also be function and theater based, not service branch based. This can be later expanded to other units. Some food for thought…

[@tonyraheja1]

Very well covered NG... Thanks

[@anilnitrkl]

So insightful

[@PankajSachdeva]

What is going to be the hierarchy between different theatre commands? Are all theatres equal? What if different theatre commands fight for same resource or against same enemy? How will coordination happen among different theatre commands? Who will reconcile any day-to-day operations/differences among theatre commands which share the geography (near their individual theatre boundary)?

[@gautam951]

CDS

[@rakadus]

Organisation must revolve around technologies. It's technologies that are going to determine the future. A sensor whether undersea or in Rajasthan desert or icy Himalayas is still a sensor.

[@gbhatia9809]

Famous dictum of Claus Von Clausewitz: War is politics by other means. Its Grand Strategy being a mix of economics, diplomacy and force. Modern warfare has added Information warfare to it. India's Cabinet Committe on Security (CCS) with PM as Head & Ministers of Defense, Finance, Ext Affairs & Home rightly covers all these aspects. Formation of integrated commands now is the next step in the right direction.

[@COSMICTUNECOMM]

We required five theatre unified combat command like eastern western northern and Indian Ocean territory, Asia-Pacific. CDS five star rank. Ids and cos comittee merged become Indian military board chairman cds.director service chief and theatre head. In war theater commander Last word.

[@vinodvarms2555]

Let us get back to 2005 when South-Western Command was created and the rationale for that It was argued that the area and extent of responsibility of Southern and Western Commands were too unwieldy. Hence a new Command was raised. If that was the reason for creating a new command, wouldn't that reason apply to the creation of a theatre command with an enlarged area of responsibility and large number of formations like army, navy (where required) and airforce would make it rather unwieldy for one commander. Allocating the airforce's assets distributed among various theatres would make it unviable and these assets are best controlled by air-headquarters.Why can we not consider India as one theatre with various commands like existing commands? This requires a detailed study before such a vital decision is taken and implemented.

[@peteregan3862]

India is giving very considered thought to Defence. The US president has a cabinet, but it rarely if ever meets - I think one newly reelected president called his cabinet together to ask for their resignations so he could make a free choice of all positions. India certainly needs a political committee - PM, Home (internal security), Defence (external security), External Affairs, and Finance through which much action is taken today. Given the very neccessary national priority of 'Make in India', I think the Industry Minister and Secretary should be added the political and bureaucratic councils and committees. As we see in the Russia-Ukraine war, wars are fought by the people and industry too. Whereas Business works to "just in time", Defence works to "just in case" - equipment and munitions must be stockpiled and maintained in good order, and industry must maintain a capacity to quickly ramp up production. Russia and Ukraine are bringing virtually everything out of stockpipe and ramping up industry. India went into the Kargil war with a huge quantity of artillery and a preparedness to fire virtually every shell in its arsenal to dislodge the Pakistanis. The last of the Pakistanis went home when they realised India would rely on artillery and had the resources to destroy every mountain peak before sending in brave soldiers to mop up. The National Security Council brings together the best available security advice to inform its five political members??? The Higher Defence Committee seeks to inform the purpose of the raise, train and sustain function in that its members are the five senior department secretaries, the CDF, and the three defence chiefs???

[@flanker531]

Sir , if u can kindly address some of the concerns and doubts raised by editor of force magazine prawin Sawhney with regards to misinformation being spread by former army chief leading to lowering of morale of the forces. Also kindly give your views regarding steps taken by India to counter Chinese agression and Mr Sawhney's view that it will be counter productive and destructive for India in the long run.

[@shivamdube9440]

Sawney is dishonest man

[@kaustavroy3356]

Don't go by any assessment of the fellow Pravin Sahwney.He is a paid Chinese stooge and harmful for the nation

[@flanker531]

@@kaustavroy3356 Hey man thanks for commenting , i was really wondering whether to take his points for its face value as he himself is from IA , but to be critical and portray every step taken by our forces and government in a negative sense seems to create a sense of panic and self doubt. Even the Israeli forces took time and external help from US to ward off larger Arab neighbours.

[@sabyasachipaldas2757]

No Theatre Command along the Myanmar/Burma border?

[@sudeeplimaye4399]

Just a thought. Why not stick to basics and maximise or optimise the existing structure of 3 forces and special commands. What's the basic purpose? Cost reduction? Or faster and effective response. Is it not likely to become bureaucratic with multiply levels and layers being discussed. Why not keep the basics structure as a point of reference. I still can not understand the fixation with land forces being at the centre. Especially, When tachnology will overtake traditional war fighting in few years, are going to redraw the structure again. Especially when one can see air power being support in the proposals being coming out in public domain. Truth as can seen, is air power and cyber will become the focul point in a technology driven furture environment. I am not a military person to know the specifics but sharing my view all the same.

[@happykumar5604]

We need urgently finesh MMRCA for Air Force

[@COSMICTUNECOMM]

There is need of national security commission highest body for national security and military

[@COSMICTUNECOMM]

We need 15 functional command. Our human strength should 3 million operation combat fighter and 7 million reservation for various options. The five services Land water Air Space and Arrow force. The Arrow force including artillery rocket missile conventional tactical and strategic weapons manpod ssm sam swm. We need defence system weapons according to theater requirements. We need design for our immediate threats and for graduation to global power.

[@patmclaughlin107]

I think we should have 73 commands.

[@venkag]

If cabinet secretary heads the committee s/he will not listen to others, if defense secretary heads the committee again s/he will not listen to others,. Not having any IAS removes the complexity. NIA is better

[@shekharmehra6943]

Meandering, needs heavy editing.

[@Red.bulldozer3]

While all the major forces in the world have one single command long time ago, the indians are still discussing whether to have one single command or not 😂

[@welcomeuser8150]

This just shows how the indian armed forces have no say sad really sad your on defence like a sitting duck, Have plans for offence most likely all your neighbors have their own problems stop wasting your energy.