Need to develop ‘joint culture’ for armed forces: CDS at tri-services conference

New Delhi, Apr 8 (PTI) Chief of Defence Staff Gen Anil Chauhan on Monday called for developing a “joint” work culture by the armed forces, underlining the need to integrate the capabilities of each service by creating structures that enhance the nation’s overall warfighting ability.

Gen Chauhan was addressing the tri-service conference, ‘Parivartan Chintan’, that brainstormed on fresh ideas, initiatives and reforms to further propel “jointness and integration” among the three services.

The Chief of Defence Staff stressed the need for distilling the best of each service to give a “de-novo” approach to traditional military concepts to make India’s forces future-ready, officials said.

The first-of-the-kind conference primarily delved into various aspects relating to the implementation of the government’s ambitious initiative to roll out theatre commands which were conceived as part of big-ticket defence reforms.

“Chief of Defence Staff Gen Anil Chauhan initiated the ‘Chintan’ by highlighting the need for developing a joint culture for the armed forces, which, while respecting the uniqueness of each service, distils the best of each service to give a de-novo approach to traditional concepts,” the defence ministry said.

“He also stressed upon the need to integrate the capabilities of each service by creating structures that increase our efficiency and enhance our warfighting ability and interoperability,” it said in a statement. The ministry said “jointness and integration” are the “cornerstones” of the transformation to joint structures which the Indian armed forces are progressing towards with the intention of being “future ready”.

It said the ‘Chintan’ was curated as a brainstorming and idea incubation discussion to generate new and fresh ideas, initiatives and reforms to further propel jointness and integration in the armed forces.

The conference was attended by heads of the Andaman and Nicobar Command and Strategic Forces Command, commandants of National Defence Academy, Defence Services Staff College, College of Defence Management and Military Institute of Technology as well as heads of the Armed Forces Special Operations Division, Defence Space Agency, Defence Cyber Agency and the Defence Communication Agency.

The brainstorming was orchestrated by the headquarters Integrated Defence Staff (IDS), the ministry said.

It is learnt that each of the three services put across their work in line with the overall policy approach to ensure jointness.

The roadmap for the theaterisation initiative also figured in the discussions. According to the theaterisation plan, each of the theatre commands will have units of the Army, the Navy and the Air Force and all of them will work as a single entity looking after security challenges in a specified geographical territory.

At present, the Army, Navy and the Air Force have separate commands. The theatre commands are being planned to integrate the capabilities of the three services and ensure optimal utilisation of their resources. One of the key mandates of the Chief of Defence Staff is to work towards the implementation of the theaterisation plan. Officers from all three services and Headquarters IDS, with diverse service experience also attended the discussion and contributed ideas towards initiating the next generation of reforms related to modernisation, procurement, training, adaptation and collaboration while embracing emerging and innovative technologies, the ministry said.

Inputs on national strategic issues impacting national security in both the civil and military domains were also deliberated upon, it said.

Chief of Integrated Defence Staff to the Chairman Chiefs of Staff Committee (CISC) Lt Gen JP Mathew, in his closing remarks, expressed confidence that such interactions will provide the necessary guidelines as joint operational structures evolve to transform into a future-ready Indian armed forces.