"Best Of Each Service": CDS Urges Creation Of "Joint Culture" Before Formation Of Integrated Theatre Commands

Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Anil Chauhan urged creation of a "joint culture" like there is a distinct culture of all the three services -- Army, Navy and Air Force.

Asserting that developing a joint culture in armed forces is the way forward, he called it "Jointness 2.0" while speaking on ‘Jointmanship: The Way Ahead’ in New Delhi.

The CDS said, "Jointness 1.0 was about better bonhomie and consensus among the services, and as there were no major differences, there is an impetus to move towards the next level of Jointness which is Jointness 2.0."

This comes at a time when India is planning to form Integrated Theatre Commands and Joint Operational Structures as the CDS considers jointness and integration are prerequisites of it.

"The creation of such commands will separate the ‘operational’ functions from the Raise-Train-Sustain (RTS) and other administrative functions, and will allow greater focus of the operational commander to matters of security," he said.

The CDS said the Theatre Commands will not be an end state but the beginning of the next set of reforms like Single to Multi-Domain operations, fusing space and cyberspace into traditional domains, digitisation of battlefield information and visualisation, net-centric to data-centric among others.

Emphasising the need to respect the uniqueness of each service, the CDS said, "We must be able to distill the best of each service, and incorporate the Highest Common Factor, rather than settle for the Least Common Denominator."

General Chauhan mentioned various initiatives of symbology that were being processed towards fostering the joint culture, including tri-services participation in national events.