Soon after taking over as country's first Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Bipin Rawat has sought for proposal for the creation of first air defence command. General Rawat has also directed the important office bearers of Integrated Defence Staff to prioritise establishing common logistics support pools for the defence services. The CDS has given 30th June 2020 as the deadline for the submission of the proposal. In a statement, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) said, "The CDS directed that a proposal to create air defence command be prepared by June 30, 2020."
As per a report in the Economic Times, General Rawat also asked the branch heads of the Air force, Army, Navy and Coast guard to submit recommendations for inter-service synergy and jointness. He stressed upon a collegiate system of functioning for all the services. He said that the consultation in this area would ensure optimisation of resources. He called for cutting down on the 'infructuous'' ceremonial activities, which require huge manpower.
General Rawat seeks joint manship among services
As per the historic decision by the centre, General Rawat is the permanent chairman of the chief of staffs committee, heads the newly formed department of military affairs, and is the one-point military adviser to the defence minister. As reported by Hindustan Times, the new constituted department of military affairs is likely to make a six-member panel to suggest measures accelerate the joint manship among the three services. It is to be noted that each service has its own air defence set up. Experts in this field opinion that the primary task of an air defence command could be to integrate the air defence and assets of the army, air force and navy and jointly provide air defence cover to the country.
The structure may lead to the regular training of the ground forces in simulated combat scenarios. Moreover, such command could overhaul the already existing air-defence of the country by providing early warning of incoming enemy aircraft and missiles.
Further CDS Rawat also directed to have a single depot and base workshop that would provide supplies and repair work to each of these services to save manpower and funds and avoid wastage. The statement said, "He also set out priorities for the execution of synergy by June 30 and December 31, 2020. Some of the areas identified for jointness and synergy include the creation of common logistics support pools in stations where two or more services have their presence."
