Integrated Theatre Command (India)

The emblem of the Indian Armed Forces (top), signifying the synergy of the three services of the Indian military. tri-services logo (top) is a combination of the logos of the three services (bottom).

Integrated Theatre Commands of the Indian Armed Forces are varying degrees of synergy and cross-service cooperation between the military branches of the Armed Forces. Following Independence, in 1949 a joint educational framework was set up starting with the first^[a] tri-service academy in the world, the National Defence Academy, and over the years this joint educational framework has been expanded to bring officers from the different services together at different stages of their careers.^[2]

Jointness and integration are achieved through tri–service organisations such as the Integrated Defence Staff. The creation of the post of Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) in January 2020 was seen as a major push for the indigenous joint warfare and theaterisation process of the Indian Armed Forces.^[3][4][5] The recommendations of the Kargil Review Committee promoted increasing jointness and integration. Subsequent committees such as the Shekatkar Committee in 2016 included the creation of three integrated theatres commands.^[6][7] In February 2020, CDS Bipin Rawat said two to five theatre commands may be set up.^[8] The completion of the creation of theatre commands, both integrated and joint commands, will take a number of years.^[9][10] Indian Air Force opposed the formation of unified theatre commands citing limitation of resources.^[11]

India currently has service–a specific commands system.^[6] However, joint and integrated commands, also known as unified commands; and further divided into theatre or functional commands, have been set up and more are proposed. The only fully functional theatre command is the Andaman and Nicobar Command set up in 2001 while the Strategic Forces Command, set up in 2003, is an integrated functional command or specified combatant command.^[12] Recently constructed integrated functional commands under the Integrated Defence Staff include the Defence Cyber Agency, Defence Space Agency and the Special Operations Division.

One of the earliest forms of jointness was the integration of infantry and cavalry.^[13] In the United States, during the Siege of Vicksburg in 1863, joint operations were seen in the actions of General Ulysses S. Grant and Admiral David D. Porter, who went on to leverage the combined power of the army and navy.^[14] The United Kingdom was the first country to have a Chiefs of Staff Committee in 1923.^[15] In the Second World War, General Douglas MacArthur and General Dwight D. Eisenhower were put in roles in which they commanded vast tri-service military operations. Despite the victory in the war major structural flaws were observed resulting in the creation of the Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff as the principal military adviser in the United States. In the United Kingdom, by the 1960s, the three military headquarters were integrated into the Ministry of Defence and the post of Chief of Defence Staff as the principal military adviser created.^[16] Over the years in both the United States and the United Kingdom changes towards greater integration have been seen, for example, the passage of the Goldwater–Nichols Act in 1986.^[17] France, Germany and Australia have also shifted to a more integrated defence management system.^[16] In Russia the creation of strategic commands was laid down in 2010 and soon after China followed with the 2015 People's Republic of China military reform and the creation of five theatre commands.^[18]

Following Independence, India set up a Joint Services Wing, commissioned in 1949, to train cadets before they would go on for further training in their respective service institutions. By 1954, the Joint Services Wing would go on to become the National Defence Academy, the first tri-service military academy in the world. By 1950, the Defence Services Staff College was also converted to a fully integrated institution. In 1960 and 1970, the National Defence College and the College of Defence Management were commissioned, respectively. This joint educational framework that brought officers together at different stages of their careers has been beneficial in increasing inter-service camaraderie.^[2]

In his book, "My Years with the IAF", Air Chief Marshal P. C. Lal (Retd.) wrote that "The Bangladesh war demonstrated that the three Services working closely together were strong and decisive in their actions. Inter-Services cooperation was indeed the most important lesson of that war."^[19] However Air Marshal Vinod Patney pointed out that one of India's first experiences with jointness did not work out so well. He writes that India had attempted to try out a Theatre Commander during the initial stages of the Indian intervention in the Sri Lankan Civil War with the deployment of the Indian Peace Keeping Force. However, after helicopters were sent on missions without proper advice resulting in avoidable loss of life and machinery, air and naval assets were once again positioned under respective air and naval commanders. Under this structure, the operations continued till the end of the peacekeeping operations in 1990.^[20]

Following the Kargil War in 1999, the Kargil Review Committee was set up to review where India went wrong during the limited war with Pakistan and suggest changes to the security apparatus accordingly. Subsequently, a Group of Ministers was formed and in turn four task forces. Among the numerous recommendations suggested were "integration of the services both with each other and with the Ministry of Defence, the creation of a chief of defence staff and joint operational commands".^[21][7]

A Manohar Parrikar led Ministry of Defence appointed a committee of experts, chaired by Lt General (retd) DB Shekatkar, submitted its report in December 2016. Among the recommendations of the Shekatkar Committee was the creation of three integrated theatre commands.^[6][22]

The Department of Military Affairs under the Chief of Defence Staff has the mandate for the "Facilitation of restructuring of Military Commands for optimal utilisation of resources by bringing about jointness in operations, including through establishment of joint/theatre commands".^[23] India's CDS Bipin Rawat has said that India will find its way of constructing its unified commands.^[24] Integrated Theatre Commands are allocated specific geographical theatres and can operate independently. In June 2020, Lt Gen (Dr) Prakash Menon wrote that "The main aim of Theatre Commands is to facilitate integrated planning and coordinated application".^[25]

According to the 2017 Joint Doctrine publication of the Headquarters Integrated Defence Staff:^[26]

Jointness: Jointness implies or denotes possessing an optimised capability to engage in Joint War-Fighting. [...] Joint operations as well as single-Service operations are sub-sets of the larger whole of 'conceptual Jointness'. Cooperative centralised planning enables the appropriate concentration of forces [...]. With Jointness, a high level of cross-domain synergy is attained. Integration: Integration in contemporary military matters is about the integration of 'processes' across all operational domains of land, air, maritime, cyberspace and aerospace, towards optimisation of costs and enhancing readiness. Integration is embodied across all functions; Operations, Intelligence, Technology Management, Perspective Plans, Logistics, and Human Resources Development (HRD).[...] Beyond the Armed Forces, it also requires collaboration with the Diplomatic, Economic and Information instruments of the National Power, at all levels – strategic, operational and tactical.

According to the former Chief of India's Army Staff Deepak Kapoor, who recommended theatre commands as early as the 1980s, "integration is a step ahead of jointness in ensuring a synergised approach to operations".^[27] While in a joint command, the parent service remains part of the decision-making process, in integrated commands, resources from the three services are already placed under one commander. In the case of an integrated command, the commander must be able to fully understand the workings of all the services under his command.^[28]

India currently has two fully functioning unified commands — the Andaman and Nicobar Command (ANC) set up in 2001 and the Strategic Forces Command (SFC) set up in 2003. While the ANC is an integrated theatre command, the SFC is an integrated functional command (or specified combatant command).^[29] There are currently 17 single service commands — 7 of the Army, 7 of the Air Force and 3 of the Navy. Each of these commands is located at a separate base.^[10][30]

As of 2020, the Air Defence Command was the first command being undertaken.^[12] Integrated commands set up as specialized service providers have also been formed: Defence Cyber Agency, Defence Space Agency and the Armed Forces Special Operations Division that are agencies of Integrated Defence Staff.^[31] The Defence Cyber Agency could go on to form the Information Warfare Command.^[32] Other proposed commands include the Logistics Command and the Training and Doctrinal Command.^[24] The Integrated Defence Staff and the Defence Planning Committee are an integral part of the theaterisation process.^[33] In February 2020, General Bipin Rawat said two to five theatre commands are being looked into.^[8]

In June 2023, reports confirmed that Air Defence Command will not be operationalised due to Indian Air Force stating a different Command for Air Defence shall be "counter-productive" because "air defence" and "offensive air" operations are inter-dependent. Air Force also cited "that dividing limited air assets into separate [sic] commands would be unwise." Hence, as of 2023, three different commands will be set up, one for managing the border with China, another one for managing the border with Pakistan and the third as the Maritime Theatre Command. Each of the commands will be headed by three-star officers from the Indian Armed Forces.^[34][35]

In July 2024, the Defence Ministry identified Jaipur as the base for the Western Theatre Command, Lucknow as the base for the Northern Theatre Command and Thiruvananthapuram as the base for Maritime Theatre Command. The maintenance facilities for common platforms used by more than one branch like HAL Dhruv, AH-64E Apache, HAL Prachand, Dassault Rafale, AK-203, etc. are also planned to be brought under an Integrated Maintenance Command.^[36][37]

On 4 and 5 September 2024, the first Joint Commander's Conference (JCC) was held at Lucknow (current headquarters Army Central Command). Chief of Defence Staff Anil Chauhan inaugurated the first conference.^[38][39] The other attendees of the meeting included Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Defence Secretary Giridhar Aramane, the 3 Service Chiefs, the 17 Commanders-in-Chief of current Commands of the Services, the 2 Commanders-in-Chief of current Tri-service Commands, DRDO chairman and other senior personalities of the Ministry of Defence. During the conference, the Defence Minister received the "detailed modalities" for the creation of Integrated Theatre Commands prepared by the Armed Forces Services. The Armed Forces will roll out the timeline of the introduction of the Theatre Commands. The plans to set up four Joint Logistics Nodes (JLN) at Leh, Siliguri, Sulur and Prayagraj is to be proposed in addition to the ones at Mumbai, Guwahati and Port Blair which have already been established. Another development that has come up is that the Commanders-in-Chief of the three Theatre Commands and the Vice Chief of Defence Staff are proposed to be a four-star rank officer like the Chiefs of the Services (General, Air Chief Marshal and Admiral). The theatre commanders will handle operational security, while the role of the service chiefs will be to strengthen other administrative functions of the Armed Forces. An Army and Air Force officer will head the Western and Northern Command for 18 months while a Navy officer will head the Maritime Command. There has been many developments and discussions in the last 2 years for setting up the Theatre Commands.^[40][41][42]

During the JCC meeting, a formal proposal for setting up three Integrated Theatre Commands (ITC) was submitted. This is expected to be approved by the Ministry of Defence soon. The transition to the ‘one border, one force’ concept from a service-specific command shall be the largest military reform in India since independence. The concept of ITCs was developed under the leadership of Chief of Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan for 20 months. He expects the military reform will take 2 years for full implementation. This plan also includes setting up cyber, space and underwater sub-commands.^[42]

On 23 October 2024, Army Chief General Upendra Dwivedi announced during a press conference that the formal proposal for the Theatre Commands are at a "mature" stage and is ready to be sent to the Government for decision-making.^[43]

During the Monsoon Session of 2023, Parliament of India passed the Inter-Services Organisations (Command, Control & Discipline) Act, 2023. The Bill received the President's assent on August 15, 2023. The same was enforced into effect on 10 May 2024 after it was notified through The Gazette of India. The Act states "An Act to empower the Commander-in-Chief or the Officer-in-Command of Inter-services Organisations in respect of service personnel who are subject to the Air Force Act, 1950, the Army Act, 1950 and the Navy Act, 1957, who are serving under or attached to his command, for the maintenance of discipline and proper discharge of their duties, and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto". According to an official press release, "The Act empowers Commanders-in-Chief and Officers-in-Command of ISOs to exercise control over Service personnel, serving under them, for effective maintenance of discipline and administration, without disturbing the unique service conditions of each Service. With the notification, the Act will empower the Heads of ISOs and pave the way for expeditious disposal of cases, avoid multiple proceedings and will be a step towards greater integration & jointness among the Armed Forces personnel." This confirmed the progress in the matters of establishment of theatre commands under the Indian Armed Forces.^[44][45]

The Integrated Rocket Force (IRF) is a proposed tri-service entity to be formed under the Indian Armed Forces which will handle ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and multi barrel rocket launchers with conventional warheads unlike Strategic Forces Command which is tasked with land-based nuclear deterrence.^[49] An idea of such Rocket Force was initially proposed by late General Bipin Rawat. The IRF will have up to medium-range surface-to-surface strike capabilities and will assist India "non-contact" warfare in future.^[50]

The proposed weapon systems to remain in IRF's arsenal include Pralay, Nirbhay, Brahmos, Pinaka MBRL and another proposed 1,500 km range ballistic missile.^[51] IRF's arsenal will initially consist of surface to surface missiles within the arsenal of Indian Army and Air Force, which have 370 Pralay missiles on order. “All such missiles and rocket systems of the Army, Navy and IAF will be integrated under the IRF for better command and control. This is required especially along the northern borders with China," according to a source cited by a report.^[52]

The Rocket Force is in an early discussion stage and much is not known about its establishment. It is not decided whether IRF will be a tri-service agency like Defence Cyber Agency and Defence Space Agency or a tri-service command-level organisation like Strategic Forces Command.^[53]

Air Chief Marshal S Krishnaswamy (Ret’d), the former Chief of Air Staff, wrote an article in The Indian Express titled, "Why theatre commands is an unnecessary idea" where he conveys that the idea of dividing India into "Theatre Command(s) may seemingly have some operational advantage" but "the permanency of dividing our territory into Operational Theatres as a defence measure seems preposterous. And to state that such a division is required to defend our country more effectively sounds alarming."^[54] Air Marshal Narayan Menon writes that Integrated Theatre Commands work for United States, Russia and China is because militarily they are countries which are self-sufficient while "India is in a completely different and subordinate class" in terms of military expenditure and "shortages in personnel, equipment and firepower" in all three of the services.^[55] Maj Gen (Retd) SB Asthana notes that the idea of Integrated Theatre Commands in India "seems to be driven more by economic considerations and less by operational inadequacies".^[32]

Group Captain (Retd) Anant Bewoor opposes theaterisation for India stating that countries with Integrated Theatre Commands such as the United States, Russia and China have different international expeditionary goals as compared to India. India neither has the forces for Integrated Commands, nor the geographical and strategic need nor the international expeditionary ambitions. He also points out that Pakistan, which does not have Integrated Theatre Commands, causes so much damage to India nevertheless.^[56] Air Commodore (Retd) Jasjit Singh also commented that theatre commands are generally used for foreign operations, and India has no need for such a force. Air Commodore Singh also argued that the specialisation that the current framework allows may be lost with unified commands and that if the services couldn't work together now, under the theatre process the situation may be worse.^[57]

• Exercise TROPEX
• Technical Support Division
• Civilian control of the military
• Civil–military relations

Bibliography

• Anand, Vinod (2008). "Integrating the Indian Military: Retrospect and Prospect". Journal of Defence Studies. 2 (2): 19–40.
• Mukherjee, Anit (2017). "Fighting Separately: Jointness and Civil-Military Relations in India". Journal of Strategic Studies. 40 (1–2): 6–34. doi:10.1080/01402390.2016.1196357. S2CID 156599462.
• Grant, Brig (Retd) NB (October–December 1976). "Inter Services Cooperation and All That". The United Service Institution of India. CVI (445): 309–314 – via archive.org.