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Navy meet to focus on Ukraine crisis and tri-service synergy
The three services are expected to submit comprehensive reports on theaterisation and join structures soon.
Boosting tri-service synergy, geopolitical dynamics of the Russia-Ukraine war and operational readiness of the Indian Navy will top the agenda of a four-day naval commanders’ conference that will begin in New Dehi on Monday and will be addressed by defence minister Rajnath Singh and external affairs minister S Jaishankar later in the week, the Indian Navy said on Sunday.
“The Chief of the Naval Staff, along with other Naval Commanders, will review major operational, logistics, training and administrative activities undertaken in the last six months. The conference will also dwell upon dynamics of the geostrategic situation in the backdrop of security scenario in the neighbourhood as well as changes emerging due to ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict,” the navy said in a statement.
The army and Indian Air Force chiefs will interact with the navy brass to address issues related to the convergence of the three services, as also avenues for augmenting tri-service synergy and readiness, officials said. Singh and Jaishankar will address the navy brass on April 28.
The navy meet in New Delhi comes on the back of the army commanders’ conference last week during which top brass assessed issues related to jointness, the likely impact of the Russia-Ukraine war on India’s military preparedness and reviewed the situation along the country’s borders with China and Pakistan.
The naval conference comes at a time when India is working on a road map for the military’s theaterisation – a long-awaited defence reform - to best utilise the resources of the three services for future wars and operations. The theaterisation model seeks to set up four integrated commands --- two land-centric theatres, an air defence command and a maritime theatre command.
The three services are expected to submit comprehensive reports on theaterisation and join structures soon.
In February, top three-star officers from the army, navy and air force carried out deliberations in Mumbai on setting up the integrated maritime theatre command as part of India’s theaterisation drive.
The meet also comes at a time when complications stemming from the sanctions slapped on Russia by the US and its allies following the Ukraine war have posed challenges for the India-Russia defence relationship and put India’s military preparedness to the test. Two-thirds of India’s military equipment is of Soviet or Russian origin.
