Article Posted on : - May 09, 2024

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NEW DELHI (PTI): India's top military brass will hold wide-ranging deliberations on the much awaited theaterisation plan at a two-day conclave beginning Thursday as the government looks at rolling out the transformative initiative in a phased manner.

Chief of Defence Staff Gen Anil Chauhan, Army Chief Gen Manoj Pande, Air Chief Marshal VR Chaudhary and Navy Chief Admiral Dinesh K Tripathi and other senior military officials will attend the 'Parivartan Chintan II' conclave on "jointness and integration" in the armed forces.

"In light of the imminent theaterisation, the Indian armed forces are intent on giving momentum to the ongoing jointness and integration initiatives amongst the three services," the defence ministry said on Wednesday.

The first edition of 'Parivartan Chintan' was organised last month with an aim to generate "novel" ideas and initiatives to ensure synergy among the three services.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh last week told PTI that the theaterisation process in the military is making progress as consensus is emerging among the three services on the ambitious initiative.

The armed forces are committed to the theaterisation initiative because the initiative will integrate the capabilities of the three services and ensure better utilisation of resources, he said.

Under the theaterisation model, the government seeks to integrate the capabilities of the Army, the Air Force and the Navy, and optimally utilise their resources for wars and operations.

Parivartan Chintan II, to be chaired by Chief of Defence Staff Gen Chauhan, is planned over a period of two days on May 9 and 10 in Delhi, the ministry said.

"Members from all the sub committees of the apex chiefs of staff committee; the CDS as its permanent chairman and the three service chiefs, shall review the progress made in multiple domains, and ideate on the necessary reforms to achieve the desired end state towards transformation through jointness and integration," it said in a statement.

As per 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, the Navy and the Air Force have separate commands.

The theatre commands are being planned to integrate the capabilities of the three services and to ensure optimal utilisation of their resources.

One of the key mandates of the Chief of Defence Staff is to work towards implementation of the theaterisation plan.