{"id":69843,"date":"2022-01-18T11:00:08","date_gmt":"2022-01-18T00:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?p=69843"},"modified":"2022-01-18T10:47:35","modified_gmt":"2022-01-17T23:47:35","slug":"indias-military-modernisation-must-not-be-derailed-by-death-of-defence-chief","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/indias-military-modernisation-must-not-be-derailed-by-death-of-defence-chief\/","title":{"rendered":"India\u2019s military modernisation must not be derailed by death of defence chief"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/figure>\n

The death of Indian General Bipin Rawat in a helicopter crash last month may have far-reaching consequences for the Indian military and its defence partnerships with the United States, Japan and Australia under the Quad.<\/p>\n

Rawat was India\u2019s first chief of defence staff, a position established to oversee reforms to the military and the civilian\u2013military bureaucracy. He took up the role in January 2020 after serving as India\u2019s top army officer during a period marked by targeted and punitive Indian military action against Pakistan<\/a> and China<\/a>.<\/p>\n

However, his most important role as chief of defence staff was to drive the largest restructuring ever undertaken of the Indian military, unpacking its overcomplicated command structure and promoting coordination between its three services.<\/p>\n

The Indian military\u2019s push to modernise and to make its three services truly interoperable has strong implications for the Indo-Pacific. At present, the Indian military operates under an orthodox doctrine<\/a> with a focus on capturing territory or using large army formations to impose punitive costs on an enemy. The doctrine has served India well during wartime, including in the ongoing border crisis with China, in which India gained an advantage<\/a> by capturing sensitive mountainous areas that it used as leverage during negotiations.<\/p>\n

But the doctrine has encouraged development of a military structure that prioritises India\u2019s continental border, with most of the defence budget spent on maintaining a large physical and deterrent presence along the disputed borders with Pakistan and China. This has come at the cost of investing in India\u2019s presence in the Indian Ocean\u2014the navy remains the most underfunded<\/a> service.<\/p>\n

Much-needed structural reforms to deal with modern and non-traditional threats like cyber and grey-zone challenges have also been delayed.<\/p>\n

The Indian military currently functions with a complex<\/a> command structure. Seventeen service-specific commands are divided into overlapping geographical areas, and sometimes the services\u2019 commands overlap. The only tri-service command is located in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, overlooking an important maritime choke point at the mouth of the Malacca Strait.<\/p>\n

This complicated command structure means the Indian military lags behind defence partners, such as the US military and India\u2019s direct competitor, the Chinese military, when it comes to ensuring that all military services operate under joint theatre commands covering a geographic or thematic area.<\/p>\n

The post of chief of defence staff was created to address this problem by overseeing the creation of joint theatre commands integrating all three military services.<\/p>\n

As the first appointee to the post, Rawat was at a unique position. He enjoyed the confidence of\u00a0the political leadership, he had strong military experience in dealing with threats at the border and insurgency, and he was singularly focused<\/a> on fast-tracking reforms.<\/p>\n

A few months before his death, Rawat publicly<\/a> shared details of the shape of the proposed joint theatre commands for the first time. India would create four theatre commands, one responsible for the border with Pakistan, another covering the now active border with China, a maritime command responsible for the Indian Ocean region, and the existing command in the Andamans looking at the eastern Indian Ocean. Two potential commands for the air force and cyber warfare were also in the works.<\/p>\n

Besides promoting interoperability and integrating India\u2019s command structure to effectively deal with dual border threats from China and Pakistan, the establishment of a dedicated maritime command would significantly improve the navy\u2019s power projection in the Indian Ocean region and its maritime partnership with the Quad.<\/p>\n

India would, for the first time, elevate the importance of the maritime theatre to match its traditional focus on land borders.<\/p>\n

India\u2019s unique position in the Indian Ocean region\u2014overlooking crucial maritime trade routes and strategic choke points\u2014gives it a traditional geographical advantage. But to counter China\u2019s increasing presence, India needs to invest in increasing its ability to project maritime power. A maritime theatre command could act as a force multiplier<\/a>, with the three services combining assets to effectively manage China\u2019s rising footprint<\/a> in the Indian Ocean while simultaneously boosting their capabilities in surveillance and disaster management.<\/p>\n

This would reinforce India\u2019s position as the resident Indian Ocean power in the Quad and bolster options for maritime cooperation. The added investment in the Andaman and Nicobar Command would help promote surveillance cooperation<\/a> among Quad partners at the mouth of the strategic Malacca Strait. Knowledge sharing on joint operations concepts within the Quad or bilaterally between India and Australia could also be an avenue for stronger defence cooperation.<\/p>\n

The Indian system is resilient. India has already begun searching<\/a> for its next defence chief, but the decision is likely to be delayed<\/a>. The nature of the post means that defence reforms will go through regardless of who succeeds Rawat. But the successor and political leadership should ensure that the urgency and pace of reforms under Rawat are maintained and that the elevation of the maritime theatre isn\u2019t delayed. Further delays would have grave implications for the balance of power in the Indian Ocean region.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The death of Indian General Bipin Rawat in a helicopter crash last month may have far-reaching consequences for the Indian military and its defence partnerships with the United States, Japan and Australia under the Quad. …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1446,"featured_media":69849,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[52,69,71,1630,251],"class_list":["post-69843","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","tag-china","tag-india","tag-maritime-security","tag-military-reform","tag-pakistan"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nIndia\u2019s military modernisation must not be derailed by death of defence chief | The Strategist<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/indias-military-modernisation-must-not-be-derailed-by-death-of-defence-chief\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"India\u2019s military modernisation must not be derailed by death of defence chief | The Strategist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The death of Indian General Bipin Rawat in a helicopter crash last month may have far-reaching consequences for the Indian military and its defence partnerships with the United States, Japan and Australia under the Quad. ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/indias-military-modernisation-must-not-be-derailed-by-death-of-defence-chief\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Strategist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ASPI.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-01-18T00:00:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-01-17T23:47:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/20201104ran8565840_0907-1-e1642400260795.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"900\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Baani Grewal\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ASPI_org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ASPI_org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Baani Grewal\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/\",\"name\":\"The Strategist\",\"description\":\"ASPI's analysis and commentary site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/indias-military-modernisation-must-not-be-derailed-by-death-of-defence-chief\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/20201104ran8565840_0907-1-e1642400260795.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/20201104ran8565840_0907-1-e1642400260795.jpg\",\"width\":900,\"height\":600,\"caption\":\"Japanese Ship Omani in formation on the left of Indian Naval Ship Shakti with HMAS Ballarat on the right while conducting a Replenishment at Sea in the Indian Ocean during Exercise MALABAR 2020. *** Local Caption *** HMAS Ballarat conducted a Replenishment at Sea (RAS) evolution with the Indian Navy's fleet support ship, INS Shakti, during the second day of Exercise MALABAR 2020. 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