Integrated Theatre Command (India)

Integrated Theatre Commands of the Indian Armed Forces are varying degrees of synergy and cross-service cooperation between the military branches of the Armed Forces. Following Independence, in 1949 a joint educational framework was set up starting with the first tri-service academy in the world, the National Defence Academy, and over the years this joint educational framework has been expanded to bring officers from the different services together at different stages of their careers.

Jointness and integration are achieved through tri–service organisations such as the Integrated Defence Staff. The creation of the post of the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) in January 2020 was seen as a major push for the indigenous joint warfare and theaterisation process of the Indian Armed Forces. The recommendations of the Kargil Review Committee promoted increasing jointness and integration. Subsequent committees such as the Shekatkar Committee in 2016 included the creation of three integrated theatres commands. In February 2020, CDS Bipin Rawat said two to five theatre commands may be set up. The completion of the creation of theatre commands, both integrated and joint commands, will take a number of years. Indian Air Force opposed the formation of unified theatre commands citing limitation of resources.

India currently has service–a specific commands system. However, joint and integrated commands, also known as unified commands; and further divided into theatre or functional commands, have been set up and more are proposed. The only fully functional theatre command is the Andaman and Nicobar Command set up in 2001 while the Strategic Forces Command, set up in 2003, is an integrated functional command or specified combatant command. Recently constructed integrated functional commands under the Integrated Defence Staff include the Defence Cyber Agency, Defence Space Agency and the Special Operations Division.

History

One of the earliest forms of jointness was the integration of infantry and cavalry. In the United States, during the Siege of Vicksburg in 1863, joint operations were seen in the actions of General Ulysses S. Grant and Admiral David D. Porter, who went on to leverage the combined power of the army and navy. The United Kingdom was the first country to have a Chiefs of Staff Committee in 1923. In the Second World War, General Douglas MacArthur and General Dwight D. Eisenhower were put in roles in which they commanded vast tri-service military operations. Despite the victory in the war major structural flaws were observed resulting in the creation of the Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff as the principal military adviser in the United States. In the United Kingdom, by the 1960s, the three military headquarters were integrated into the Ministry of Defence and the post of Chief of Defence Staff as the principal military adviser created. Over the years in both the United States and the United Kingdom changes towards greater integration have been seen, for example, the passage of the Goldwater–Nichols Act in 1986. France, Germany and Australia have also shifted to a more integrated defence management system. In Russia the creation of strategic commands was laid down in 2010 and soon after China followed with the 2015 People's Republic of China military reform and the creation of five theatre commands.

Joint Services Institutions in the Indian Armed Forces

Following Independence, India set up a Joint Services Wing, commissioned in 1949, to train cadets before they would go on for further training in their respective service institutions. By 1954, the Joint Services Wing would go on to become the National Defence Academy, the first tri-service military academy in the world. By 1950, the Defence Services Staff College was also converted to a fully integrated institution. In 1960 and 1970, the National Defence College and the College of Defence Management were commissioned, respectively. This joint educational framework that brought officers together at different stages of their careers has been beneficial in increasing inter-service camaraderie.

In his book, "My Years with the IAF", Air Chief Marshal P. C. Lal (Retd.) wrote that "The Bangladesh war demonstrated that the three Services working closely together were strong and decisive in their actions. Inter-Services cooperation was indeed the most important lesson of that war." However, Air Marshal Vinod Patney pointed out that one of India's first experiences with jointness did not work out so well. He writes that India had attempted to try out a Theatre Commander during the initial stages of the Indian intervention in the Sri Lankan Civil War with the deployment of the Indian Peace Keeping Force. However, after helicopters were sent on missions without proper advice resulting in avoidable loss of life and machinery, air and naval assets were once again positioned under respective air and naval commanders. Under this structure, the operations continued till the end of the peacekeeping operations in 1990.

Following the Kargil War in 1999, the Kargil Review Committee was set up to review where India went wrong during the limited war with Pakistan and suggest changes to the security apparatus accordingly. Subsequently, a Group of Ministers was formed and in turn four task forces. Among the numerous recommendations suggested were "integration of the services both with each other and with the Ministry of Defence, the creation of a chief of defence staff and joint operational commands".

The Manohar Parrikar-led Ministry of Defence appointed a committee of experts, chaired by Lt General (retd) DB Shekatkar, submitted its report in December 2016. Among the recommendations of the Shekatkar Committee was the creation of three integrated theatre commands.

About

The Department of Military Affairs under the Chief of Defence Staff has the mandate for the "Facilitation of restructuring of Military Commands for optimal utilisation of resources by bringing about jointness in operations, including through establishment of joint/theatre commands". India's CDS Bipin Rawat has said that India will find its way of constructing its unified commands. Integrated Theatre Commands are allocated specific geographical theatres and can operate independently. In June 2020, Lt Gen (Dr) Prakash Menon wrote that "The main aim of Theatre Commands is to facilitate integrated planning and coordinated application".

Terminology

According to the 2017 Joint Doctrine publication of the Headquarters Integrated Defence Staff:

According to the former Chief of India's Army Staff Deepak Kapoor, who recommended theatre commands as early as the 1980s, "integration is a step ahead of jointness in ensuring a synergised approach to operations". While in a joint command, the parent service remains part of the decision-making process, in integrated commands, resources from the three services are already placed under one commander. In the case of an integrated command, the commander must be able to fully understand the workings of all the services under his command.

Implementation

India, as of May 2025, has two fully functional unified commands — the Andaman and Nicobar Command (ANC) set up in 2001 and the Strategic Forces Command (SFC) set up in 2003. While the ANC is an integrated theatre command, the SFC is an integrated functional command (or specified combatant command). There are 17 single service commands — 7 of the Army, 7 of the Air Force and 3 of the Navy. Each of these commands is located at a separate base.

The Air Defence Command was the first command to be undertaken as of 2020. Integrated commands set up as specialized service providers have also been formed: Defence Cyber Agency, Defence Space Agency and the Armed Forces Special Operations Division that are agencies of Integrated Defence Staff. The Defence Cyber Agency could go on to form the Information Warfare Command. Other proposed commands include the Logistics Command and the Training & Doctrinal Command. The Integrated Defence Staff and the Defence Planning Committee are an integral part of the theaterisation process. In February 2020, General Bipin Rawat said two to five theatre commands are being looked into.

In June 2023, reports confirmed that Air Defence Command will not be operationalised due to Indian Air Force stating a different Command for Air Defence shall be "counter-productive" because "air defence" and "offensive air" operations are inter-dependent. Air Force also cited "that dividing limited air assets into separate [sic] commands would be unwise." Hence, as of 2023, three different commands will be set up, one for managing the border with China, another one for managing the border with Pakistan and the third as the Maritime Theatre Command. Each of the commands will be headed by three-star officers from the Indian Armed Forces.

In July 2024, the Defence Ministry identified Jaipur as the base for the Western Theatre Command; Lucknow as the base for the Northern Theatre Command and Thiruvananthapuram as the base for Maritime Theatre Command. The maintenance facilities for common platforms used by more than one branch like HAL Dhruv, AH-64E Apache, HAL Prachand, Dassault Rafale, AK-203, etc. are also planned to be brought under an Integrated Maintenance Command.

On 4 and 5 September 2024, the first Joint Commander's Conference (JCC) was held at Lucknow (current headquarters Army Central Command). Chief of Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan inaugurated the first conference. The other attendees of the meeting included Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Defence Secretary Giridhar Aramane, the 3 Service Chiefs, the 17 Commanders-in-Chief of current Commands of the Services, the 2 Commanders-in-Chief of current Tri-service Commands, DRDO chairman and other senior personalities of the Ministry of Defence. During the conference, the Defence Minister received the "detailed modalities" for the creation of Integrated Theatre Commands prepared by the Armed Forces Services. The Armed Forces would roll out the timeline of the introduction of the Theatre Commands. The plans to set up four Joint Logistics Nodes (JLN) at Leh, Siliguri, Sulur and Prayagraj were to be proposed in addition to the already-established ones at Mumbai, Guwahati and Port Blair. It was also noted that Commanders-in-Chief of the three Theatre Commands and the Vice Chief of Defence Staff are proposed to be a four-star rank officer equivalent to the Chiefs of the Services (General, Air Chief Marshal and Admiral). The theatre commanders will handle operational security, while the role of the service chiefs will be to strengthen other administrative functions of the Armed Forces. An Army and Air Force officer would head the Western and Northern Command for 18 months in rotation while a Navy officer would head the Maritime Command. There has been many developments and discussions in the last 2 years for setting up the Theatre Commands.

During the JCC meeting, a formal proposal for setting up three Integrated Theatre Commands (ITC) was submitted. This is expected to be approved by the Ministry of Defence soon. The transition to the ‘one border, one force’ concept from a service-specific command shall be the largest military reform in India since independence. The concept of ITCs was developed under the leadership of CDS Anil Chauhan for 20 months. He expects the military reform will take 2 years for full implementation. This plan also includes setting up cyber, space and underwater sub-commands.

On 23 October 2024, Army Chief General Upendra Dwivedi announced during a press conference that the formal proposal for the Theatre Commands are at a "mature" stage and is ready to be sent to the Government for decision-making.

On 1 January 2025, it was reported that the Defence Ministry has recognised 2025 as the "Year of Reforms" and the primary objective would be the roll-out of the theatre commands, development of domains like cyber security and space, and emerging technologies like artificial intelligence, machine learning, hypersonic and robotics. Steps would be taken to streamline the process of defence acquisition procedures and make them more time-sensitive. From the same day, changes were also observed in the appointment of Aide-de-Camp (personal staff officers) of the Chiefs of Staffs. Earlier, the ADC officers were selected by the Chiefs from the units of their own branch or service. However, from 2025, the same would be selected from the sister services of the respective Chiefs. None of the high-ranking officials were against the theaterisation concept during the meetings since September 2022.

In the book "''Ready, Relevant and Resurgent: A Blueprint for the Transformation of India’s Military''" authoured by CDS Anil Chauhan which was released on 22 May 2025, he described that following the Theaterisation the Command Chiefs will be tasked for Force Application or operational aspects while the Service Chiefs will be tasked for Force Generation or to "Raise, Train and Sustain" the branches of the Armed Forces.

As for air defence, the Akastheer system of the Indian Army is being integrated with the Integrated Air Command and Control System (IACCS) of the Indian Air Force to increase efficiency of the Armed Forces to defend the Indian airspace. This brings the radars of the Army through Akashteer and the Air Force radars and civilian radars through the IACCS under the Joint Air Defence Centre (JADC) level. Post integration, IAF will be in charge of the JADC. As of January 2025, integration for one site is complete while that for other sites in underway.

Foundational legislation

Inter-Services Organisations (Command, Control & Discipline) Act, 2023

During the Monsoon Session of 2023, Parliament of India passed th
Inter-Services Organisations (Command, Control & Discipline) Act, 2023
The Bill received the President's assent on August 15, 2023. As notified through Gazette Notification No SRO 72 dated December 27, 2024, this is:

According to a
official press release
"The Act empowers Commanders-in-Chief and Officers-in-Command of ISOs to exercise control over Service personnel, serving under them, for effective maintenance of discipline and administration, without disturbing the unique service conditions of each Service. With the notification, the Act will empower the Heads of ISOs and pave the way for expeditious disposal of cases, avoid multiple proceedings and will be a step towards greater integration & jointness among the Armed Forces personnel." This confirmed the progress in the matters of establishment of theatre commands under the Indian Armed Forces. The Act was enforced into effect from 10 May 2024 as a replacement for the provisions contained in the specific service acts—Army Act 1950, Navy Act 1957 and Air Force Act 1950—in the ISOs.

Inter-Services Organisations (Command, Control & Discipline) Rules, 2025

Th
Inter-Services Organisations (Command, Control & Discipline) Rules, 2025
are a set of subordinate legislation enacted under the Section 11 of the ISO Act. These rules provide the detailed administrative, operational, and procedural framework for implementing the provisions of the Act, particularly in the context of India’s evolving joint military structures including Joint Services Commands. The implementation of the Rules from 27 May 2025 fully operationalises the ISO Act.

* Inter-services unit: A military unit, ship, or establishment comprising personnel from two or more branches of the Indian Armed Forces (Army, Navy, and Air Force), commanded by an officer from any of these services and authorised under Section 8 of the Act.

* Joint Services Command: A higher-level military command consisting of personnel from multiple branches of the Indian Armed Forces, led by a Commander-in-Chief holding the rank of Lieutenant General, Air Marshal, or Vice Admiral.

List of Joint Services Commands

List of Previously Planned Commands

Integrated Rocket Force

The Integrated Rocket Force (IRF) is a proposed tri-service entity to be formed under the Indian Armed Forces which will handle ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and multi barrel rocket launchers with conventional warheads unlike Strategic Forces Command which is tasked with land-based nuclear deterrence. An idea of such Rocket Force was initially proposed by late General Bipin Rawat. The IRF will have up to medium-range surface-to-surface strike capabilities and will assist India "non-contact" warfare in future.

The proposed weapon systems to remain in IRF's arsenal include Pralay, Nirbhay, Brahmos

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