In a move to bring greater jointness and integration among the Armed Forces, India’s top military hierarchy on Wednesday decided to form three joint military stations — the first in the country — and also agreed to merge the education branches of the three defence services into a single tri-services Education Corps.
The decisions, announced on the final day of the three-day Combined Commanders’ Conference held in Kolkata, come amid ongoing discussions on creating integrated theatre commands.
While the locations of the three joint military stations are not known immediately, sources told The Indian Express that a few sites, including Mumbai, Bengaluru, Ahmedabad, Gwalior, Pune and Secunderbad, have been underdiscussions. All these locations were meant to function under one of the three services. For instance, there were deliberations underway to make Mumbai a joint military station, with the Navy as the lead service for it. The Indian Express had reported on the deliberations in March last year.
A joint military station would effectively mean that all facilities of the Army, Navy and Indian Air Force will be combined — including logistics, infrastructure, repair and maintenance as well as stores and supplies — so that they can be optimised and brought under a common lead service.
The decision to create three joint military stations would thus be effective in bringing greater integration among the three services, and also help in optimisation of manpower, infrastructure and assets. It would also offer a glimpse, albeit on a much smaller scale, of whether integrated tri-service units function effectively if India goes ahead with the creation of theatre commands.
Similarly, the decision on the creation of a tri-services Education Corps is also aimed at increasing jointness, while ensuring rationalisation of manpower, optimisation of infrastructure and administration, and better integration of personnel of the three services.
The latest decisions are among the many steps that have been taken over the years to create greater integration among the three services. The Army, Navy and IAF have been taking other steps to promote integration, including cross-postings among themselves, creation of joint logistics nodes, and ensuring jointness in procurement, training and staffing through joint planning and integration of their requirements.
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Greater efforts to integrate the services have begun from the time the Indian military has been actively working to implement the reform of theaterisation. Theaterisation seeks to integrate the Army, Navy and IAF, and their resources, into specific “theatre” commands for operational deployment under a single, unified command structure in a specific geographical region. However, all the services are yet to come on board on this, even as all have been in favour of increasing jointness and integration.
The IAF has expressed reservations, primarily on the ground that it would further divide its scarce combat assets. Last month, IAF Chief Air Chief Marshal AP Singh cautioned against rushing the theaterisation plan, emphasising instead on creating a joint planning and coordination centre in Delhi under the Chiefs of Staff Committee to bolster jointness among the three services.
However, Army Chief General Upendra Dwivedi and Navy Chief Admiral Dinesh Kumar Tripathi have indicated that theaterisation is inevitable.
According to a government statement, the third day of the Combined Commanders’ Conference focused on understanding emerging threats and future challenges in a rapidly evolving security landscape. “An insightful session by the CDS provided a detailed update on the year of reforms, elaborating on the action plans formulated in line with the Prime Minister’s and Raksha Mantri’s directions,” it said.
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It said the discussions laid emphasis on enhancing jointness and integration, fostering inter-operability, streamlining decision-making and reforming institutional structures for space, cyber, information and special operations domains. “The session underlined the critical importance of adopting a technology-led approach to modern warfare, with innovations integrated seamlessly into operational doctrine,” it said.
“The successful conduct of CCC 2025 marks a major step in transforming the Armed Forces into a more integrated, technologically advanced, and operationally agile force – fully capable of addressing multi-domain threats, safeguarding national interests and contributing to nation building, global peace and stability,” the statement noted.
