Theaterisation will come, just have to see how long it will take: Army Chief

Army Chief General Upendra Dwivedi on Friday asserted that theaterisation -- or the integration of Army, Air Force and Navy capabilities -- will definitely take place, and the question is only about how long it would take to materialise.

If one has to deal with multiple agencies, "theaterisation is the answer", he said.

Dwivedi made the remarks while interacting with the media after launching a book titled 'Operation Sindoor: The Untold Story of India's Deep Strikes Inside Pakistan' at Manekshaw Centre here.

He was asked about his stand on theaterisation, after divergent views emerged recently on the move planned.

"Theaterisation will come, today or tomorrow. We just have to see how long it will take. We have to go through certain steps to bring in theaterisation, which includes jointness, integration. A lot of things need to be discussed over for that," the Army chief said.

He also explained why theaterisation is "necessary".

"When we fight a battle, an Army doesn't fight alone. We have Border Security Force and Indo-Tibetan Border Police. Then there are the tri-services, defence cyber agencies, defence space agencies, and now we are talking about cognitive warfare agencies. Besides, there are agencies such as the ISRO, Civil Defence, Civil Aviation, Railways, NCC, state and Central administrations...

"If one has to deal with so many agencies, theaterisation is the answer. Because unity of command is more important. You need one commander to achieve coordination in execution. Theaterisation is absolutely necessary," he asserted.

The Army chief's remarks comes nearly two weeks after chiefs of other two forces expressed their views on theaterisation.

At a two-day tri-services seminar 'Ran Samwad' held at the Army War College in Mhow last month, Indian Air Force chief Air Chief Marshal A P Singh and Navy chief Admiral Dinesh K Tripathi spoke on theaterisation, making it clear that the two forces have divergent views on the plan.

The Chief of Air Staff had said that armed forces should not come under any pressure to roll out theatre commands.

At the concluding session, Chief of Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan had said that "dissonance" in the military on setting up of tri-services commands will be addressed keeping in mind the best interest of the nation.

During an interaction with mediapersons, the Army chief was on Friday asked about his views on the Goods and Services Tax rate reduction on various military equipment and systems.

Thanking the government for it, he said, "Our defence corridors will get a major filip, because there would be more investments. The MSMEs and start-ups face difficulties as they have less funds. The GST reduction will give them a boost."

Dwivedi said the force majorly looks at three things -- research and development, training and modernisation -- and the GST reduction will benefit all the three segments.

GST rates on heavy equipment has been reduced from 18 per cent to 5 per cent, which he said will "facilitate us in our modernisation and upgradation work".

On the rate cut on Unarmed Aerial Vehicles (UAV), he said it would give a major push. "In future wars, drones, UAVs, and counter UAVs will have a big role. So keeping that in mind, it is a good news for us," he said.

He was also asked about the situation along the Line of Control (LoC) in the wake of Operation Sindoor. "We will have to see the impact from a long-term perspective," the Army chief said.

"Has state-sponsored terrorism stopped today? I don't think so. Why? Because infiltration attempts are still being made at the LoC. How many terrorists we have neutralised and how many have run away -- it's already reported in media," he added.

PTI