New Delhi: India on Wednesday declared 2025 as the year of defence reforms and that the focus will be to roll out integrated theatre commands to boost tri-services synergy and ensure simpler and time-sensitive military procurement with a broader aim to transform the military into a technologically-advanced force.
The overall aim of the nine-point reforms planned by the defence ministry would be to ensure deeper collaboration among key stakeholders, break silos, eliminate inefficiencies and optimise utilisation of resources.
The reforms would lay the foundation for “unprecedented” advancements in defence preparedness and ensure India’s security and sovereignty amidst challenges of 21st century, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said.
The defence ministry’s aim on theatre commands assumes significance as it virtually indicated a resolve to unveil the ambitious reform measure in 2025.
Under the theaterisation model, the government seeks to integrate the capabilities of the Army, the Air Force and the Navy and optimally utilise their resources for wars and operations.
As per the theaterisation plan, each of the theatre commands will have units of the Army, the Navy and the Air Force and all of them will work as a single entity looking after security challenges in a specified geographical territory.
At present, the Army, Navy and the Air Force have separate commands.
The decision on observing 2025 as year of reforms and the broad objectives under it were finalised at a high-level meeting chaired by Singh. It was attended by all the secretaries of the defence ministry.
One of the nine points listed by the ministry following the deliberations was to take initiative to instil a “sense of pride” in Indian culture and ideas, fostering confidence in achieving global standards through indigenous capabilities, while imbibing best practices from modern militaries that suit the nation’s conditions.
“(The) ‘year of reforms’ will be a momentous step in modernisation journey of the armed forces,” Singh said.
The defence ministry said the focus in 2025 will also be on new domains such as cyber and space, emerging technologies like artificial intelligence, machine learning, hypersonic and robotics.
In order to give impetus to the ongoing and future reforms, it was unanimously decided to observe 2025 as the ‘year of reforms’, it said in a statement.
The reforms would aim at transforming the armed forces into a technologically-advanced combat-ready force capable of multi-domain integrated operations, the ministry added.
The Singh-led meeting held that the reforms should aim to further bolster jointness and integration initiatives and facilitate establishment of the integrated theatre commands, it said.
During the deliberations, it was decided that the reforms should focus on new domains such as cyber and space, and emerging technologies like artificial intelligence, machine learning, hypersonic and robotics.
It was agreed that associated tactics, techniques and procedures required to win future wars should also be developed.
The meeting also called for developing a shared understanding of operational requirements and joint operational capabilities through inter-service cooperation and training.
It also emphasised on the need to make acquisition procedures simpler and time-sensitive to facilitate swifter and robust capability development.
The aim of the defence reforms also includes rolling out steps to facilitate technology transfer and knowledge sharing between the defence sector and civil industries and promoting public-private partnerships by improving ease of doing business.
The meeting also underlined the need for focusing on collaboration across various stakeholders in the defence ecosystem and breaking silos.
It said the ministry should work towards positioning India as a credible exporter of defence products, fostering R&D and partnerships between Indian industries and foreign original equipment manufacturers.
The meeting also pitched for ensuring welfare of the veterans while leveraging their expertise. Efforts will be made towards optimisation of welfare measures for veterans, the ministry said.
