Military Reforms in India: The Push for Jointness and Integrated Theatre Commands
UPSC Relevance
Prelims: Defence (Military Reforms, Theatre Commands, Chief of Defence Staff - CDS, Integrated Battle Groups - IBGs, specific weapon systems like MQ-9B).
Mains:
General Studies Paper 3 (Internal Security & Defence): Various Security forces and agencies and their mandate; Security challenges and their management in border areas; Role of external state and non-state actors in creating challenges to internal security. This is a core topic for the Defence/Security part of GS3.
Key Highlights from the News
India is undergoing major military reforms in the context of changing warfare (AI, drones) and the threat of a two-front threat simultaneously.
The main objective of these reforms is for the Army, Navy, and Air Force to work together as an integrated force (jointness) instead of operating in separate service silos.
As part of this, the government aims to form Integrated Theatre Commands, which will geographically divide the country's entire military strength and bring each section under a single commander.
Recent steps to achieve this goal:
Establishment of joint agencies for Cyber, Space, and Special Operations.
New battle formations like Integrated Battle Groups (IBGs).
Procurement of weapons like MQ-9B drones that can be used jointly by all three services.
However, the article observes that the pace of these reforms is very slow, and disagreements between the services are a major challenge.
For these reforms to succeed, Civil-military fusion - i.e., integrating DRDO, private industry, and universities with the military - is essential.
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