The Government of India is committed to implementing theaterisation to enhance integration, interoperability and synergy, between the three services and various commands. Through theaterisation, the government seeks to optimally utilise defense resources for peace and war. The idea is to have one integrated theatre command for one theatre. In a recent address, Chief of Defence Staff, General Anil Chauhan said that the concept of theaterisation is a fundamental change that is on the anvil. “This is one of the most ambitious changes with far-reaching implications attempted post-independence. The start on this journey depends on the right steps being taken first towards jointness and integration. Theaterisation involves creation of tri service theatre specific structures for effective response along the entire spectrum of conflict,” said General Anil Chauhan. “Integration in the physical domain aims to achieve a multiplier effect as it combines the unique capabilities of the Services through integrated processes and structures to increase the war fighting capability,” he added. Maj Gen BK Sharma, Director General, United Service Institution of India (USI), in conversation with Anoop Verma, Editor (Desk), ETGovernment, sheds light on theaterisation and other initiatives that the Government of India is taking to strengthen India’s defence capabilities.
Edited excerpts:
How does the vision of Viksit Bharat impact the defence sector and ecosystem in the country?
Viksit Bharat envisages comprehensive national development of India. It envisages that the country will become fully developed by 2047 and the size of the Indian economy will be over $30 trillion. To achieve this vision, we have to adopt a whole of nation approach for comprehensive development. The focus is on infrastructure development inclusive growth, improvement in human development indices, industrial advancements, and strides in space and digital technologies. The role of youth is paramount for the achievement of the Viksit Bharat vision.
As the Prime Minister has been saying from time to time–this vision is in sync with our national ambition and regional aspiration. One important component of Viksit Bharat is self-reliance in defence technologies. Since independence, we have been a highly import-dependent country as far as defence equipment is concerned. This dependency on imports has become a strategic vulnerability for us. It is paramount to improve our R&D base and our manufacturing capacity. Lot of work is being done in the country to achieve Viksit and Atmanirbhar Bharat.
We are developing an ecosystem that combines startups, MSMEs, defense manufacturing units and private industry. We are building two Defence Industrial Corridors in Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. We have signed an agreement with the USA on critical and emerging technologies. Similar tie-ups are being mooted with European countries.
At present, much of the research and development for defense is being done by the DRDO. Should the private sector be encouraged to take up more responsibilities in the defence sector?
That is already happening. A big part of the growth in the defense sector is coming from the private sector initiatives. The government has allowed an increase of FDI in the defense sector, on the condition that 60% of the components in defence platforms, being indigenous, will ensure that the local companies get most of the contracts. The government has taken initiatives that will encourage the private sector to develop pan-India test facilities for the private sector. There is facilitation for intellectual property, and imports and exports. The goal is to make India the net exporter worth $5 billion of defense equipment. India strives to be a preferred security partner in the region. R&D should not be the sole purview of the DRDO. Private industries should also be allowed and encouraged to invest in R&D. There is focus on delicensing and deregulation of the industry in its entire life cycle. The government has started the IDEX initiative to nurture innovative defence sector startups and MSMEs.
What are the key areas of strategic security concerns that need to be addressed urgently?
India has to develop its military capabilities for having credible deterrence. Should a war be forced upon us, then we have to fight to win. We need to understand that there is a significant technological capacity gap between us and our major adversary–the elephant in the room is China. In the Rocket Force, PLA has a massive arsenal of different kinds of missiles, conventional as well as nuclear. Of particular concern are Anti-Ship Cruise Missiles, Anti-ship ballistic missiles and Hyper Velocity vehicles. PLA follows the concept of Key Point Strikes, directed against our operational energy centers: command, control, communication nodes and logistics hubs. They call it acupuncture warfare: paralyze first, annihilate later. We need to scale up our Air defense and offensive missile capabilities.
The Chinese also have a Strategic Support Force that includes components of cyber electronic warfare, psychological warfare, space warfare and special forces operations. The components of this command are used under the command of the Central Military Commission, who in some cases allot these resources to theatre commands. They are also investing in a secret weapon programme known as the Assassin’s Mace. They are investing heavily in AI, Machine Learning, Big Data Analytics, lethal autonomous weapons systems, swarm drone attacks and hard and soft anti-satellite capabilities. China intends to increase its nuclear warheads to about 1000. Chinese strategic analysts are debating a review of their nuclear doctrine.
In order to bridge the combat power asymmetry vis-a-vis China, we have to make investments in these areas and scale up our abilities with a missionary zeal in a time-bound manner. It is heartening to note that the government and armed forces are cognizant of the aforesaid challenge and concerted efforts are being made to scale up their own R&D and manufacturing capabilities under the rubric of Atmanirbhar Bharat. Technological transformation of the Armed forces has become a major thrust for the government.
Pakistan and China are geopolitically aligned against India. How can India deal with the threat posed by these two countries?
This collusion between Pakistan and China is a threat. It manifests in different domains – political, diplomatic, economic, intelligence, military and cognitive. The threat from Pakistan is at the lower end of the spectrum such as cross-border terrorism. But China’s threat is on the high end of the spectrum entailing use of disruptive technology.
This anti-India collusion between China and Pakistan is highly manifest in Ladakh where the political and military aims of the two coalesce. We need to build a credible deterrence capability to fight on two fronts. We must have punitive deterrence against Pakistan–this is something that will come from the high technological edge both in non- kinetic and kinetic warfare. Diplomatically and through an asymmetric strategy, we need to compound Pakistan’s complications in Durand Line, which is the second front where Pakistan is deploying its resources to ward off resistance from Taliban who do not recognize Durand Line.
To counter the threat from China, we should follow the strategy of ‘Denial by Deterrence’. On the continental borders, boots on ground need to be complemented by high-tech capabilities. China’s threat is not just at the northern border but also in the Indian Ocean, where it is developing dual use facilities and increasing its maritime footprints. We have to strengthen our navy as an instrument of deterrence. We need to enhance the blue water capabilities of the Indian Navy to deny the PLA Navy an entry into the Indian Ocean, besides dominating Sea Lanes of Communication. As part of our external balancing, we need to increase leverages as members of QUAD and in terms of conduct of bilateral and multilateral naval exercises.
China is beset with a major security threat from the US in the Indo- Pacific. Contestations in the South China Sea, Taiwan crisis and military standoffs over Senkaku island in the East China Sea de-facto pose a two-front dilemma for China. It is in our strategic interest to see that China remains embroiled in the Western Pacific Ocean while we develop our own deterrence and warfighting capabilities.
The Government of India is moving to implement the strategy of Theaterisation. Why is Theaterisation important? How can Theaterisation transform our armed forces?
Theaterisation is an overdue requirement in India. More than 65 countries have already adopted Theaterisation to enhance the efficacy of their armed forces. Since 2016, China has undertaken major military reforms which includes merging eighteen Group Armies into five theatre commands. These joint commands contain combat units (army, navy, air force), combat support units, specialized units, logistics and even civil resources.
Two of these theatre commands are directed against India: One is the Western theatre command, which covers Xinjiang province and Tibet autonomous region. It is mainly deployed on the LAC. The second is the Southern Theatre Command that comes into play for any Indian Ocean contingency. In comparison to these two theatre commands in China, India has eighteen commands of army, navy and air force geographically and digitally dispersed. For example, there are three army commands looking after the China border–the Northern Command in Ladakh, Central Command in the Central sector, and the Eastern Command in the Northeast region. Same is the case with Indian air force commands dealing with the China border.
As far as the Indian Navy is concerned, the Western Theatre command is responsible for the Arabian Sea and the Eastern Naval Command for the Bay of Bengal. Andaman and Nicobar is a unified command taking care of the island and the Indian Ocean. Under the Theaterisation initiative, the government is aiming to integrate these commands. As per open-source reports, the existing Army Northern Command is likely to be responsible for J&K and perhaps some adjacent areas of Kargil. The Western Theatre Command will be responsible for the Pakistan border and the Eastern Theatre Command for the border with China. A Maritime Command is likely to be responsible for the Indian Ocean region. The sanctity of the existing commands is not being compromised under the Theaterisation initiative.
Three Theatre Headquarters are likely to be created to coordinate the functioning of integrated commands. I must add here that what I am stating is basically an opinion based on open-source discussions and experience. What precise shape and course Theatre commands will take only the competent authorities can say.
How is the national security architecture evolving to deal with the geopolitical challenges?
The issue of national security architecture is complex. I am of the view that we need a national security strategy that has two aspects–the highly classified aspect, which is in the hands of only the top policymakers, and another in the form of a whitepaper that can be placed in the public domain.
Indian national security architecture comprises a multitude of entities. Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) which is an apex body supported by the National Security Council Secretariat, the National Security Advisory Board and the Strategic Planning Division. Other notable organizations are the Defense planning committee, the Defence Acquisition Council and intelligence agencies. Nuclear command authority deals with strategic assets. There is a requirement for us to review our national security architecture to make it more responsive to complex national security challenges.
A fully developed National Security Strategy will provide strategic guidance to various ministries and agencies to prepare their respective strategies in a cohesive manner and foster much needed civil-military fusion and the whole of government approach. We need to institutionalize a multi-domain approach for making 360 degree strategic assessments to gauge intention, capability and strategic behaviour of our adversaries, competitors and strategic partners. A national strategic cum crisis gaming Centre should be established to formulate and validate our responses to scenarios.
