Editorial: Military modernisation needs a push

The tragic and untimely death of India’s first Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat has cast a shadow over the ambitious reforms in the armed forces, a task that was close to his heart. His death has not only created a vacuum at the highest level of the military hierarchy but has left the […]

The tragic and untimely death of India’s first Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat has cast a shadow over the ambitious reforms in the armed forces, a task that was close to his heart. His death has not only created a vacuum at the highest level of the military hierarchy but has left the work on modernisation and theatre commands unfinished. Speeding up the implementation of the defence reforms will serve as a real tribute to the late soldier. The Centre must move in swiftly to meet the ambitious targets set by General Rawat. After the appointment of the CDS in January last year, the armed forces were brought under the ambit of the Department of Military Affairs, which also deals with works relating to the three Services, and with procurement exclusive to the Services, except capital acquisitions, which remains with the Department of Defence. The broad mandate of the CDS includes bringing about “jointness” in operations, logistics, transport, training, support services, communications, repairs and maintenance of the three Services, within three years of the first CDS assuming office. Gen Rawat was working towards bringing consensus between the three Services on integrated theatre commands, which would be the biggest reorganisation of the Indian armed forces since Independence. The process of rollout of the theatre commands was delayed due to differences among the Services and objections on some aspects from the Indian Air Force. The task now falls on the next CDS to build consensus and take the reorganisation process forward.

Having an integrated command system has been one of the long-felt needs of defence forces. The idea got further push and acquired a sense of urgency in the aftermath of lessons learnt during the Kargil war in 1999. As future wars are expected to become short, swift and network-centric, coordination among the three Services becomes crucial. Also, as the stress on resources increases and defence budgets remain flat, the way forward is the optimisation of resources by joint planning and training. Being above the three Service Chiefs, the CDS is expected to play this role by optimising procurement, avoiding duplication among the services. The structural reforms will bring in greater alacrity, coordination and efficiency in decision-making and help in meeting the emerging security challenges. Military modernisation, which has not received due priority over the last few decades, is an urgent need now. Bureaucratic lethargy, archaic procedures for acquisitions of weaponry and long delays in delivery of promised indigenous weapons have been the key problem areas adversely affecting the combat readiness of armed forces. Hopefully, this could change in future as the new command system will drive the modernisation programme. Future military strategies must be driven more by technology. The Integrated Theatre Commands are a way of combining the strengths and optimising the potential of the three Services.

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