Ready armed forces with organizational structure for formation of integrated brigades are considering appointment of Deputy Chief of Defense Forces and Assistant Chief of Defense Forces.
The Vice-Chief of Defense Designate may be a general or an officer of equivalent rank who will in all probability look after matters related to strategic planning, capability development and procurement.
A designated Assistant Chief of Defense Forces, who may be a lieutenant general or an officer of equivalent rank, will coordinate the allocation of operations, intelligence and logistics between divisions.
While the organizational structure plan may be implemented after getting the government’s approval, sources say that steps are being taken to create a Western Division headquarters in Jaipur, where the Army’s South West Division is located.
The Northern Brigade is likely to be in Lucknow. The Maritime Squadron is to be based in Coimbatore and will comprise the IAF’s Prayagraj-headquartered Central Squadron and its Southern Air Squadron based in Thiruvananthapuram. Earlier, it was planned to set up Marine Corps Headquarters at Karwar.
It will be with elements of the other two services in charge of their respective brigades.
Currently, the Army and the Indian Air Force have seven squadrons each and the Navy has three squadrons. In addition, apart from HQ Integrated Security Staff (HQ IDS) there are two tri-army brigades namely Andaman and Nicobar Brigade and Strategic Forces Wing (SFC).
After formation of regiments, the three command headquarters of the services will be converted into regimental headquarters. The overall plan is to establish three adversary-based squadron commands, one facing Pakistan, the other facing China, and a maritime squadron to deal with maritime threats outside the country’s coastal borders.
The existing Andaman and Nicobar Squadron may be merged into the Maritime Command Squadron and function under the Headquarters Integrated Defense Staff. According to the plan, the Strategic Forces Division will continue to operate independently.
Three service leaders are responsible for raising, training and sustaining individual services. While it is not yet known whether they will continue to retain some operational roles, the three brigade commanders will be responsible for the operations of the forces.
Sources suggest that long-term organizational needs are still being worked out and some strategic reallocation of logistics may be undertaken to meet immediate needs.
No additional manpower is likely to be added to form brigade commands and reorganizations will be carried out within organizations to meet the requirements of brigade commands.
In an interview with The Indian Express last week, Defense Minister Rajnath Singh said it would take up to 20 years to develop theater commands in major countries, and while the process was underway, it would take time.
“During a discussion people show different points of view. Only if there is a consensus then we take the next step. But the objective is not defeated in the process,” said Rajnath Singh.
Before creating unified theater commands, the armed forces are taking small steps to bring interoperability between the services at lower levels. These include plans to make Mumbai the first tri-service common security hub, setting up additional joint logistics nodes across the country to increase coordination in logistics needs, streamline their supply chains and provide posts of several inter-service officers.
