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OPINION OCTOBER 21, 2022 | The Indian Eye 12

China’s President Xi Jinping had tasked the PLA to implement the two systems One of the reasons for creating a separate chain of command for combat is to let the theatre
of chain of command before 2020 command focus on strengthening its combat preparedness

commanders would have to compre- of command mostly deals with army atre. Since the responsibility of the ferent sets of capabilities to counter
hend and analyse vast sums of infor- construction and administration. theatre command is to prepare and them. The command system facili-
mation flow. This would require high It was implemented to enhance win wars, the command system would tates it by making sure that the joint
degree of intelligence and reasoning the CMC’s role as the supervisory help in focusing on the types of war command system is not bothered by
to make accurate summations of the manager, while the military services being fought, the kind of command administrative and management du-
battlefield situation and the develop- would exclusively focus on army con- system to train, and increase the ca- ties and exclusively plans for joint op-
ment of the war. This in turn would struction (development of the capa- pability of the operational units with- erations. They can train according to
put pressure on the commanders to bilities of the individual military ser- in the theatre command to carry out the requirement of their theatre and
understand and implement strata- vice branches). the instructions of the CMC. come up with operational plans that
gems, grasp the art of command and The division of responsibility is Within the structure of the com- fit their threat perception.
become proficient in the system of such that the theatre command can mand system, the theatre command Such a separation of the re-
joint operational command. focus on combat-related issues. For therefore takes a lead in forming sponsibilities has made the PLA to
In their view, without refining instance, the theatre commands are the entirety of the joint operational focus exclusively on developing a
the command structure, the PLA’s charged with responding to security command structure as they would be joint combat capability. As a result,
ability to wage war would be severely threats in their respective strategic involved in military forces allocation the theatre commands are conduct-
restricted. Unless one has an effi- directions, maintaining peace, con- planning necessary for combating ing exercises focused on improving
cient combat command system, the taining wars and winning wars. They threats, evaluation of combat and the joint operations’ capability and
commander would spend 85 per cent have a pivotal role in safeguarding support capabilities of the troops in training is centered on joint training.
of their time sorting through large the country’s overall national securi- the theatre, planning of joint oper- The execution of such a capability is
amount of information, and only 15 ty and military strategies. ations and joint training planning possible because of the structure of
per cent related to combat issues. According to Xi Jinping, inte- in accordance with the threat being the leadership and command system.
This trend has been reversed after grated joint operations are the heart faced by the theatre. Therefore, a The leadership and command sys-
achieving the integrated command of future warfare and the PLA should theatre command becomes more fo- tem is able to ensure that the theatre
information system. grasp and comprehend the world cused on the extent of its boundaries command can achieve integration
Since the focus is on improving military trends. As a result, whereas of areas of responsibility and can en- between the different services and
‘command’ to attain combat readi- before the reforms in the PLA, the gage in combat missions accordingly. different operational units deployed
ness, the PLA has separated respon- operational units were training in- The two command systems are in the theatre and achieve command
sibilities such as capability-building dependently and were unable to co- considered as the nervous system of efficiency by improving the situation-
and other administrative issues from ordinate their training jointly. After the military management and combat al awareness of the theatre.
the theatre command. The PLA the implementation of the joint com- in the PLA. Unity of leadership, such
therefore created a separate chain mand system, the theatre command as the control of the PLA through the Dr M.S. Prathibha is Associate
of command making the military ser- coordinates joint operations in an CMC, remains one of the goals for Fellow at the Manohar Parrikar
vices concentrate its leadership and increasing fashion. constituting the leadership system. Institute for Defense Studies and
management of the troops tailored The joint operational command The two systems divide the responsi- Analyses (IDSA), New Delhi
towards the CMC’s guidelines such system ensures that all elements of bilities such as joint operations com- Views expressed are of the author and
as the kind of capabilities that each joint and multi-service commands mand at the theatre level and army do not necessarily reflect the views of
service should be developing. On the are integrated. In other words, the construction and management at the the Manohar Parrikar IDSA or of the
other hand, this leaves the theatre theatre command achieves a pivotal level of military service branches. Government of India.
command handling decisions regard- position in the command chain as The theatre command, for in-
ing operational matters. they would develop the capability to stance, would only focus on devel- This is the abridged version of the
This system is the chain of com- have an integrated command system, oping joint operations capability Introduction of the book which
mand where the decision or orders which would lead it to communicate against the adversary they are facing appeared first in the Comment
from the CMC are communicated to seamlessly between different com- in their strategic direction. Each the- section of the website (www.idsa.in) of
the individual military services and mands from units from the military atre command has different levels Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defense
they, in turn circulate it to the troops services and support forces, and raise of strategic threats, faces different Studies and Analyses, New Delhi on
(CMC–Services–Troops). This chain the situational awareness of the the- kinds of adversaries and needs dif- October 17, 2022

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