What Is Integrated Theatre Commands That Oversaw Operation Sindoor Against Pakistan?
India's Operation SINDOOR, initiated on May 7, 2025, in the aftermath of the Pahalgam terror attack, which claimed the lives of 26 innocent civilians, has showcased exemplary coordination between the tri-services - Indian Navy, Army and Air Force. 'Operation Sindoor' was extended beyond its primary objective in response to a Pakistani misadventure. While Operation SINDOOR was conceived as a punitive and targeted campaign to dismantle the terror infrastructure across the Line of Control and deeper inside Pakistan, it also resulted in a reality check for the Pakistani Army and called out their nuclear bluff.
The four-day-long 'Operation Sindoor' became highly successful, and the Integrated Theatre Commands (ITC) played a crucial role in it.
What Is Integrated Theatre Commands?
An ITC is a unified command structure that integrates the assets and personnel of the Army, Navy, and Air Force under a single commander.
This unified approach is designed for specific geographical areas (theatres) or functional domains. It is aimed at achieving better coordination, faster decision-making, and enhanced combat effectiveness by breaking down the traditional service-specific silos.
"To modernise the Armed Forces, efforts are underway to restructure forces through the establishment of Integrated Theatre Commands (ITCs) and Integrated Battle Groups (IBGs). These reforms aim to optimize operational preparedness by unifying the Army, Navy, and Air Force capabilities based on geography and function," said the government.
It also said that studies at the Service Headquarters level are actively exploring Theatre Commands for Land Borders, Maritime, and Joint/Integrated Air Defence to enhance synergy and combat effectiveness. The Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) Gen Anil Chauhan has emphasized that jointness and integration are essential prerequisites for ITCs, which will clearly separate operational roles from administrative Raise-Train-Sustain (RTS) functions, allowing commanders to focus on security and operations.
"ITCs represent the start of wider reforms toward multi-domain operations, integrating space and cyberspace with traditional domains, and advancing digitization and data-centric warfare," said the government.
Creation of the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS)
The creation of the post of Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) in 2020 was a major step towards facilitating the implementation of theatre commands, with the CDS tasked with restructuring military commands to bring about jointness.
On 24 December 2019, the Union Cabinet approved the creation of the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), a four-star General who heads the Department of Military Affairs (DMA) and acts as the principal military adviser to the Defence Minister on tri-Service matters.
Key roles of the CDS include:
* Overseeing the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Territorial Army. * Promoting jointness in procurement, training, staffing, and command restructuring. * Leading tri-service organizations, including cyber and space commands. * Advising the Nuclear Command Authority and participating in defence planning bodies. * Driving reforms to optimize resources, enhance combat capabilities, and reduce waste. * Implementing multi-year defence acquisition plans and prioritizing inter-Service needs.
* The CDS strengthens unified leadership and fosters integration for a more coordinated and modern Indian military.
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These and many more such examples were not the result of providential opportunity, but clearly point to a strategic continuity underpinning these actions. Strategic Messaging: The overall effect of the Ukrainian tactical actions were further enhanced by a masterful televised address by none other than their president. It was a masterclass in strategic communication, especially how rich details of the operation were delivered, resulting in a clear sense of the Ukrainians being in control of their circumstances. And by purposely highlighting the 'subversive' aspects of the operation, they probably hope to inflict further damage by provoking the counter-intelligence paroxysms and excesses of the Russian internal security apparatus. A clear acknowledgement of Ukrainian losses in other theatres also lent a patina of credibility to these claims of having conducted the operations control centre right under the nose of the FSB. Also read: Lessons for airpower from Operation Sindoor—unified command to tech advancements Lessons for India Swarms: The outrageously disproportionate effects of even a proto-swarm were demonstrated most convincingly. Especially evident was their exceptional potential as 'Day-1 Can Openers', besides allowing telescoping of SEAD and follow-on conventional manned aircraft strike. So, as long as we lack fifth-generation fighters for this can-opener role, or even if we acquire them for this role, the sheer cost and tactical effectiveness of such swarms is unmistakable. We must launch an anti-HQ9 swarm development as a national priority programme. While this doesn't square with the apparent incompetence of Pakistani drone attack waves on 8-9 May, complacency could be lethal. Mission Engineering: The actual technological complexity of the Ukrainian attack was relatively modest – definitely in the realm of applied engineering rather than exotic or experimental technologies. The reason for their success lay instead in superb mission engineering and systems engineering within a very clear strategic conceptual framework. Consequently, focusing on the mission and system goals rather than the aerial vector hijacking all attention is the lesson to be drawn, at least so far as drones are concerned. Innovation: We must also correspondingly evolve our understanding of innovation and its different manifestations depending upon the stage of the crisis facing us. It is nearly impossible to conjure and envision such a system as the Ukrainians put together in peacetime due to the absence of a specific scenario. Nevertheless, a strong focus on innovative concepts of operation and corresponding mission/systems engineering are vital, as opposed to our continuing obsession with 'non-negotiable requirements'. Silos: The conduct of a long-range strategic air attack by an intelligence service clearly points to the obsolescence of institutional silos in this next-gen warfare realm. We clearly need to untangle our feet in this regard as evident from the plethora of drone RFPs working at cross-purposes. Commodore JA Maolankar is a retired naval test pilot, currently working in the field of swarm drones development. He tweets @JA_Maolankar. Views are personal. (Edited by Aamaan Alam Khan)
