India to have joint theatre command of tri-services, says Rajnath Singh

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Sunday said a joint theatre commands of tri-services would be set up to enhance coordination among armed forces. He was speaking during a programme organised by the Jammu Kashmir People's Forum to pay tributes to the martyrs of the Indian Armed Forces, news agency PTI reported. "Keeping in view (joint operations as seen in Operation Vijay in Kargil), we have decided to set up joint theatre commands (in the country)," Singh said.

HT had reported in February last year that India was set to begin the initial roll-out of its long-awaited theaterisation plan, with the Air Defence Command and the Maritime Theatre Command likely to be launched by May 2020, though the commands would take two years to be fully operational. Theaterisation has the full backing of the government.

In June 2021, the government formed an eight-member panel to fine-tune the theaterisation plans and bring all stakeholders on board, especially the Indian Air Force, for speedy roll-out of the new joint structures.

The Indian military’s theaterisation model, a long-awaited reform, will have inbuilt flexibility to fall back on the current command and control structures to deal with any contingency during the transition phase, an official said. Stabilisation of theatre commands could take up to five years, and it is critical to ensure that there is a mechanism to swiftly return to the pre-theaterisation status quo if a crisis unfolds when the restructuring is underway.

Singh, paying homage to martyrs, also said the country cannot forget their supreme sacrifice to safeguard the country's territorial integrity and sovereignty.

"It is the duty of the society and the people to give their utmost respect to the martyrs and their families," he said.

"Whatever support you can offer, do to for their families. It is the responsibility of each citizen," he added.

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The defence minister also said India is moving quickly from being the world's largest importer of defence equipment to an exporter.

"India was the world's largest importer (of defence products). Today, India is not the world's largest importer but is among the top 25 nations engaged in defence exports," he pointed out.

Singh said the country has started defence exports worth ₹13,000 crore and it has fixed a target to increase it to ₹35,000 to ₹40,000 crore by 2025-26.

(With inputs from PTI)