The government on Wednesday announced that it has extended the tenure of chief of defence staff (CDS) General Anil Chauhan by eight months, signalling its confidence in him to implement key military reforms underway in the defence ministry, including theaterisation.
“The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) has, on 24th September 2025, approved the extension of service of General Anil Chauhan as Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) who shall also function as Secretary to the Government of India, Department of Military Affairs, up to 30th May 2026, or until further orders,” the defence ministry said. Chauhan, 64, will complete three years as CDS on September 28. Born on May 18, 1961, he was commissioned into the 11 Gorkha Rifles in 1981.
The extension comes at a critical moment when there are differences within the three services on theaterisation, a long-awaited reform for the best use of the military’s resources to fight future wars. On September 15, Prime Minister Narendra Modi instructed the defence ministry to take swift and concrete measures to bolster jointness in the military to meet challenges of the future battlefield.
Jointness among the three services is an essential prerequisite to the creation of theatre commands and was in focus during Operation Sindoor. It led to a four-day confrontation with Pakistan that showcased the Indian military’s synergy.
{{/usCountry}}Jointness among the three services is an essential prerequisite to the creation of theatre commands and was in focus during Operation Sindoor. It led to a four-day confrontation with Pakistan that showcased the Indian military’s synergy.
{{/usCountry}}Chauhan was the military adviser to the National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS) when he was named CDS in 2022. As CDS, he is also the permanent chairman of the chiefs of staff committee (COSC) and the single-point military adviser to the defence minister.
Speaking at the tri-services Ran Samwad conclave in Mhow in August, Chauhan said that there may be a certain degree of dissonance among the three services over theaterisation but alternative points of view were being heard without temperatures rising. The differences, he said, would be resolved. Speaking at the same event, navy chief Admiral Dinesh K Tripathi said theaterisation was “the ultimate goal”.
The comments came a day after chief of the air staff Air Chief Marshal AP Singh said the armed forces must not come under any pressure to form joint structures and should not pick any global model that may not be relevant in the Indian context, adding that joint planning and coordination in Delhi and decentralised execution is what is required. Singh’s remarks, also made during Ran Samwad, indicated that the three services held different views on the ongoing theaterisation drive.
The theaterisation model being pursued involves raising the China-centric northern theatre command in Lucknow, the Pakistan-centric western theatre command in Jaipur, and the maritime theatre command in Thiruvananthapuram. The air force feels it should not be confined to a theatre.
“If you have sensed some kind of a dissonance, let me assure you we will resolve it in the best interest of the nation...whether it is about drones, air littorals (airspace up to a few thousand feet) or even integrated command structures,” the CDS said at the time.
Reigniting the debate around theaterisation, Singh then said that any structure –– whether it is current or planned later –– should not add layers to the decision making process. “Why do we need a joint structure? Is there anything ailing us… is there any problem with the structure that we have,” the IAF chief had said.
In March, the defence ministry told a parliamentary panel that a raft of complex issues must be addressed before rolling out integrated theatre commands as they have a direct bearing on the proposed force structure.
To be sure, theaterisation is among the nine areas identified by the defence ministry for focused intervention this year –– it declared 2025 as the “year of reforms” on January 1. Other areas include building indigenous capabilities to strengthen the armed forces, simplifying acquisition procedures for swifter capability development and new domains such as cyber and space. Defence minister Rajnath Singh is conducting a quarterly review of the defence reforms, including theaterisation, being driven by the government to boost the armed forces’ combat readiness.