Modi set to address commanders’ meet
NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address the Combined Commanders Conference on September 28, the second anniversary of 2016’s surgical strikes against terror pods in Pakistani territory by Indian forces. The conference will be held at the Jodhpur Air Force Station and focus on operational preparedness, the need for jointmanship (the military term for integrated planning and operation of the three services) and theatre commands (or unified commands) for better response.
South Block officials said on condition of anonymity that the annual conference will be on September 27 and 28 with Prime Minister Modi likely to be briefed about the meeting by senior defence ministry officials on Tuesday when he returns from Varanasi.
It is at this meeting that the programme will be finalised, they added. The Combined Commanders Conference will be attended by the three Chiefs with Admiral Sunil Lanba and Air Chief Marshal B S Dhanoa returning from US after an official and personal visit respectively much before the high level deliberations.
While the agenda of the conference is classified, PM Modi is expected to review operational preparedness as well as drill into the three forces the need for jointmanship in view of limited military resources. Even though the need for jointmanship has come up time and again after the Kargil war, analysts say the three services tend to operate in silos with no one willing to part with their turf. The Air Force, since its western commander virtually fought it out with the then vice army chief way back in 2002, has always believed in its strategic role rather than a supportive one. Indeed, such is the turf war that the recently created Integrated Defence Staff’s role is primarily humanitarian assistance and disaster relief.
The defence ministry has been an advocate of restructuring the defence procurement process with involvement of the three services limited to qualitative requirements and trial, and a separate procurement body responsible for the acquisition. However, recommendations of panel set-up by former Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar in 2016, under former Director General (Acquisitions) Vivek Rai, were literally dumped as the forces want more role in acquisitions.
PM Modi and the combined commanders will also delve into restructuring the three services into theatre commands for better utilisation of resources and faster response in times of hostilities.
While national security planners believe that future wars will be fought by stand-off weapons and debilitating the enemy by crippling critical infrastructure through cyber-attacks, the Indian military is finding it very difficult to move from its colonial legacy - a mindset still skewed towards traditional warfare.