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Fully committed to theatre commands: Army chief Gen Manoj Pande
Theaterisation refers to placing specific formations of the army, the navy and the air force under a theatre commander. Such commands are to be led by an officer from any of the three services, depending on the roles assigned to them
New Delhi Army chief General Manoj Pande on Thursday said that the Indian Army was fully committed to theaterisation, and supportive of efforts towards evolving integrated theatre commands. The government kicked off the theaterisation drive three years ago with the creation of the post of chief of defence staff (CDS).
“We are convinced that that’s (jointness and better integration) the future. We are also looking at how best we can aggregate the capabilities of the three services...and achieve the integrated theatre command model,” Pande said while delivering the keynote address at 4th General KV Krishna Rao Memorial Lecture.
Efforts to push theaterisation are on after the appointment of General Anil Chauhan as CDS in September-end even though the momentum of the long-awaited military reform was hit after his predecessor, General Bipin Rawat, died in a helicopter crash last December, and the top post was vacant for several months.
Theaterisation refers to placing specific formations of the army, the navy and the air force under a theatre commander. Such commands are to be led by an officer from any of the three services, depending on the roles assigned to them.
Chauhan was appointed CDS more than nine months after Rawat was killed in the helicopter crash in Tamil Nadu on December 8, 2021.
When Rawat was appointed CDS, the government set a clear deadline for jointness in the armed forces. Rawat, who took charge on January 1, 2020, was expected to bring about jointness in a three-year time frame -- by January 2023.
Chauhan, a former Eastern Army commander, was the military adviser to the National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS) before he was handpicked for the top job. His appointment in September came four months after government amended the Army, Air Force and Navy rules in early June to broaden the pool of officers from which the CDS was to be selected — it made retired three-star officers among those eligible for the top post. He was the Eastern Army commander from September 2019 and held the charge till his retirement in May 2021.
