Forces must transform to face new threats, says Rawat

General Bipin Rawat, Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) underscored the importance of transforming Indian armed forces in order to stay relevant in the fast-changing geopolitical environment. He also pointed out that a key strategic management competence is the ability to anticipate, prepare for and adapt to change.

He was delivering the keynote address at the commencement of the two-day national webinar on ‘Transformation: Imperatives for the Indian Armed Forces’, under the aegis of College of Defence Management (CDM), Secunderabad here on Thursday He stated that the country was facing a complex and challenging security environment, which dictates enhancement of military capabilities and requires addressing voids in warfighting abilities. He also stressed the significance of evolving doctrine, force structures, technology and sustenance to create a future-ready military.

The webinar’s inaugural day had two major sessions on ‘organisational imperatives’ and ‘structural imperatives’, which were dealt with by senior serving and veteran officers from the three services.

As part of ‘organisational imperatives’ for transformation, several speakers laid stress on the changes being sought in the armed forces, through the promotion of combined approach in training, staffing and procurement. The importance of restructuring military commands into joint theatre commands to achieve the desired level of joint operations was also highlighted. Also discussed at length were various models of transformation to derive key concepts as applicable in the Indian context.

The afternoon session covered issues pertaining to ‘structural imperatives’ highlighting a conceptual framework on theaterisation for building futureready force.

The final session concluded with deliberations on a suggested model for Oceanic Theatre Command (OTC), followed by an interactive session.