Introduction
In order to improve the coordination between the three services and enhance functionality of the Indian Defence Forces, the Government announced the creation of the post of first Chief of Defence Staff (CDS).
The Chief of Defence Staff will be a four-star officer, who would be senior to the three service chiefs, all of whom are four-star officers.
General Bipin Rawat, who retires as the Chief of Army Staff on 31 December 2019 will assume the appointment of CDS.
Characteristics of Future Battlefield
The future battlefields will be non-linear and multi-dimensional and will be characterized by high tempo of operations conducted in a compressed time and space coupled with a high degree of transparency using cutting edge technology.
Considering that the nuclear dimension will further limit the depth and duration of the future conflicts in the sub-continent, the wars will be short and intense.
Thus, it will be an operational imperative that the response to an aggression by the three Services is highly, swift, precise and in concert. Every element deployed in the battle space will have to mesh, synchronize and move in a clockwork precision.
Tri-Services Integration – An Operational Imperative
The three Services presently have 17 single Service Commands and two Tri-Service Commands, i.e. Andaman and Nicobar Command (ANC) and Strategic Forces Command (SFC).
These 19 Commands have considerable duplication in terms of overlapping geographical zones of responsibilities and operational objectives.
Since, none of the Command HQs are co-located; it results in challenges of coordination in intelligence sharing, planning and execution of assigned tasks.
The need for greater integration amongst the three Services came for serious consideration after the Kargil conflict.
Both the Kargil Review Committee and the follow-up Group of Ministers (GoM) recommended the appointment of a Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), essentially to synergize the response of Indian Armed Forces and provide single point military advice to the political authority of the country.
It was felt that the change will need to be implemented from top down, so as to take root and be effective.
It must be understood that no single weapon or force reaches its full potential unless employed with complementary capabilities of the other Services. Actually, integration is a corollary for ‘jointness’.
In other words, the concept of Integrated Theatre Commands as is being proposed for institution is based on the premise that, “complementary operations will be built around a key force rather than a key Service”.
The Chiefs of Staff Committee (COSC) & the Integrated Defence Staff (IDS)
The Chiefs of Staff Committee was appointed on 01 October 2001. The primary aim of setting up the COSC was to fulfill the need of providing an institutionalized framework for Defence Management at the highest level.
All the three service chiefs, i.e. Army, Navy, Air Force and the chief of the Integrated Defence Staff (IDS) compose the Chiefs of Staff Committee. The Scientific Adviser to the Minister of Defence is invited to attend, if and when required.
The Chiefs of Staff are the authority for advising the Defence Minister and normally through him the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs on all military matters which require ministerial consideration.
The senior most chief from any of the three services assumed the appointment of the chairman of COSC. Hence, there was no permanency in this “single point contact” agency, which was created with the view to bring about synergy in tri-service operations. This appointment has now been replaced by the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS).
The Integrated Defence Services (IDS) is in effect the principal functional arm and Secretariat to the Chiefs of Staff Committee. It was created by the Government on 23 November 2001, based on the recommendations of the Group of Ministers which was set up in 2000 (post-Kargil) to review India’s defence management.
The HQ IDS is staffed by officers and personnel from all the three services, with the primary aim of bringing about a high degree of synergy between the Armed forces.
Chief of Defence Staff
In order to remove adhocism, improve continuity and promote jointness in planning, operations and modernisation of the three armed forces, the decision that was taken after the Kargil conflict of creating the appointment of Chief of Defence Staff, has been implemented.
The post of the Chief of Defence Staff will be held by a four-star General, who will be senior to all the three service chiefs. The CDS will be a single point contact for advise on all military matters by the government.
Moreover, the future battlefields will require complete synergy between the three services during combat to achieve operational success. The Chief of Defense Staff will be a central agency who will have the complete military resources at his disposal. The same will ensure economy of effort, quick and effective deployment and optimum utilisation of resources available with the three services.
Furthermore, he will be in-charge of the tri-services command at Andaman and Nicobar islands, the strategic command in-charge of nuclear weapons along with the upcoming cyber and space command.
Proposal to Create Integrated Theatre Commands
The prevailing geo-political scenario in the sub-continent, with multifarious threats, calls for jointness and synergy in every sphere.
The Integrated Theatre Commands concept entails having a unified command of the three services for geographical theatres that are of military security concern.
Conceptually, a theatre needs to be identified on the basis that it shares a contiguous geographical boundary with a competing entity or an adversary, say Pakistan or China.
The commander of such a force will be able to bring to bear the resources at his disposal with seamless efficacy, e.g. a ‘theatre command’ in the east will integrate components of the IAF and the Army and also have flotilla of the Navy integrated with it.
China restructured its forces into theatre commands in October 2015. However, in their case the re-organization was presumably done with the aim to bypass the military bureaucracy & establish direct political control over the military. Hence, the context needs to be carefully understood.
The restructuring of our defence forces into integrated theatre commands has a lot of advantages and of course some challenges that are enumerated in the succeeding paras:
Integrated Theatre Command Concept: Advantages
- Better acclimatization of troops to the given battle space, which will assist them to comprehend the operational requirements correctly in the assigned area of operation.
- Training needs and administrative requirements of the troops can be better understood, which would allow specialization and suitable honing of battle drills at all levels.
- Equipment can be procured, maintained and pre-positioned for quick mobilization and apt application during the envisaged, short duration, high intensity war.
- The allocation of military hardware, in terms of weapon systems, command, control and communication equipment and combat support elements will be theatre specific and result in optimization of the resources.
- Unified command of the three Services under one designated commander will allow for prompt and precise decision making and will remove unnecessary tri-services one-man-up ship.
- The unified commander will not have to look over his shoulder for resources and will be able to apply the assets at his disposal, swiftly at the time and place of his choosing. The same will also lend to economy of effort, as the resources will not lie idle or get committed unduly.
- Hence, it goes without saying, that the theatre commands will afford better coordination, intelligence sharing, apt advice and seamless conduct of operations in a given theatre of operation.
Integrated Theatre Command Concept: Challenges
- At the strategic and tactical levels there could be some challenges, like the distribution of certain specialized resources which are held in limited numbers, e.g. multi-role combat aircrafts, command, control and communication equipment, early warning assets, etc.
- Division of such meager resources will reduce combat efficiency at the point of decision.
- Besides, interoperability of troops and equipment from dormant sectors to the active areas during war will be difficult and less effective.
- Another serious challenge that could be faced is that the concept of a theatre command may promote a sense of “fighting battles, rather than fighting a war”, which in turn may reduce our ability to either win a battle or the war.
Conclusion
Jointness and integration of the Military is an inevitable requirement for the modern day battlefield. The armed forces will have to consider ‘jointness’ as a cardinal pre-requisite while embarking upon its futuristic modernization plan.
The creation of the appointment of CDS is a very positive step and will go a long way in ensuring cohesive effort and ideal coordination between the three services during combat.
Creation of Integrated Theatre Commands should be considered as the next step to enhance the efficacy of our defence forces. This structural reform will also provide for institutionalized collective training of personnel of tri-services, desirable movement and deployment of assets for quick and synergized application and most importantly remove inter-service one-up-man ship.