New Delhi: Army chief General Upendra Dwivedi has strongly backed the idea of theaterisation, saying it is inevitable and the need of the hour.
Speaking on the sidelines of a book on Op Sindoor written by former Defence Intelligence Agency Chief Lt Gen K.J.S. Dhillon (Retd), the Army chief also said that a agency for cognitive warfare (an extension of information warfare) is also being discussed.
His comments came amid a dissonance in the military on the whole idea of theaterisation. The air force feels what is needed is a joint command in the national capital to oversee operations and not theatre commands.
“Theaterisation will be there for sure today or tomorrow. We only have to see how much time it will take for theaterisation to happen. We will have to go through some steps to ensure it comes. This includes jointness, integration and other issues that will have to be thought about,” General Dwivedi said.
He added, “Why is theaterisation important? When we wage a war, it is not the army alone which is fighting. You have the BSF, ITBP at the border, tri-service defence cyber agency, defence space agency and we are now talking about a cognitive war agency. Besides, there are intelligence agencies. ISRO, civil defence, Railways. If we have to deal with all these agencies, theaterisation is the answer because unity of command is more important. One commander to ensure execution,” he said.
The dissonance in the military, as was first reported by ThePrint in 2021, emerged in public during the tri-service seminar on military affairs at the Army War College, Mhow in August.
IAF chief Air Chief Marshal A.P. Singh batted for a joint planning and coordination centre in Delhi, involving the service chiefs and the CDS, rather than theaterisation. Navy Chief Admiral Dinesh K. Tripathi, on his part, underlined that theaterisation remained the ultimate aim of all ‘jointness’.
The Army chief was then on an official visit to Algeria and could not attend the seminar.
The dissonance was acknowledged by Chief of Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan. He welcomed the frank discussion and opinions but said the final decision would be reached keeping in mind the best interests of the nation.
The navy has always been on board with the theaterisation plan, since it will head the maritime theatre commands, overseeing both the eastern and western maritime boundaries.
However, the Indian Air Force, which plans its operations centrally, moving assets from one command to the other at ease, depending on operational requirements, feels that splitting up air assets into three or more theatre commands is futile and will tie up critical systems.
In a 17 June 2021 report, ThePrint was the first to state that, contrary to claims regarding implementation, theaterisation will be delayed. The theatre concept, under which India’s military was to be divided into different, independent theatres—as in the US or China—has since then undergone several permutations and combinations.
(Edited by Viny Mishra)
Also read: Operation Sindoor model will not work in future wars. India must not delay theaterisation