Theatre Commands: Some Food For Thought

NEW DELHI: Four years after the post of Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) was announced as part of the move to usher in defence reforms, the process towards theaterisation or forming integrated commands is progressing apace. There is broad consensus among the military brass for creation of three theatre commands—one for the China border, another for Pakistan and the third to look after the maritime domain. But what should the structure, command and control of those theatre commands be? In this episode of ‘Simply Nitin’, StratNews Global Editor-in-Chief Nitin A. Gokhale takes a look at the practices prevalent in the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia and explains why India needs a model of its own.