The detailed modalities prepared by the Services for the creation of Integrated Theatre Commands will be presented to Defence Minister Rajnath Singh at the first Joint Commanders Conference (JCC) scheduled to be held on September 4 and 5 in Lucknow. The meet is expected to see extensive deliberations on the issue, officials in the know said.
While those discussions continue, plans to set up four more Joint Logistics Nodes (JLNs) are in advanced stages, sources said. The new JLNs to come up at Leh, Siliguri, Sulur and Prayagraj will add to the three existing nodes at Mumbai, Guwahati, and Port Blair, two sources independently confirmed.
“The detailed recommendations by the Services based on various studies conducted would be presented to the Defence Minister,” a source said.
The broad consensus among Services is for the creation of three theatre commands — two land commands focusing on western and northern borders, and a maritime command to oversee the country’s vast coastline. The other and a more pertinent recommendation, confirmed by multiple sources, is that all the three commanders of the theatre commands as well the Vice-Chief of Defence Staff should be four-star officers akin to the three Service chiefs and the Chief of the Defence Staff (CDS).
Lot of work has been done in the last two years on ironing out differences and fine-tuning the modalities of the structures to be reorganised and new ones to be created, another source said. Some “give and take” would be required by Services, the sources added. The reorganisation is expected to free up infrastructure and space from existing establishments, which would be used to quickly raise the new structures required.
The first JCC is set to take place at the Headquarters-Central Command in Lucknow with the theme “Sashakt aur Surakshit Bharat: Transforming the Armed Forces” and will serve as the pivotal platform for undertaking “internal process reforms” within the Services, the Defence Ministry said in a statement. General Anil Chauhan, the current CDS, will inaugurate the convocation on September 4, which brings together the apex-level hierarchy from the Ministry and the armed forces.
Joint logistics nodes
“The JLNs have proved to be successful in providing integrated logistics to all Services with optimal resource utilisation. The jointness in logistics is being enhanced further with new locations having been identified for establishment of JLN in future,” a defence source said.
Noting that cross-staffing and training between the three Services will enable full integration and jointness in approach, the source added, “Cross-posting of officers in the units of three Services have already commenced. Posting them to headquarters and training establishments is also under way.” Officials said that cross-posting of a small number of officers at Headquarters and Command-levels has already commenced.
The government sanction letter for establishment of the first three JLNs was signed on October 12, 2020. The JLNs in Guwahati and the tri-services Andaman and Nicobar Command, Port Blair were operationalised on January 1, 2021. The JLN at Mumbai was operationalised on April 1, 2021.
The Ministry further stated that the two-day deliberations at JCC will focus on analysing the impact of regional and global geo-political disruptions and the commensurate demands likely to be placed upon the reforms being undertaken by the armed forces. “Preparing for future wars, jointness and integration among the constituent Services and technology absorption, riding on the government’s ‘Atmanirbharta’ initiative to achieve self-reliance in defence, will be areas receiving prime emphasis,” it added.
The Ministry had stated in the past that the JLNs will provide integrated logistics cover to the armed forces for their small arms ammunition, rations, fuel, general stores, civil hired transport, aviation clothing, spares and also engineering support in an effort to synergise their operational efforts and would accrue advantages in terms of saving of “manpower, economise utilisation of resources, besides financial savings”. A JLN at each location is managed by the Service which has the larger presence in the location.
Among other measures towards jointness, the Ministry had said earlier that initiatives for the development of common digital maps and geo-reference system are under way and process of establishing joint communication structures has been initiated.
