Military reforms, readiness to be in focus at top defence meet next week

NEW new delhi: shift and reforms in the war machine on with its in operation(p) readiness will be in sharp focus at the Combined Commanders’ Conference (CCC) to be held in Kolkata next week, with the top three-day meet to be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on September 15, the defence ministry said on Monday.“The CCC-2025 will focus on reforms, transformation and change, and operational preparedness. Together, these reflect the armed forces’ commitment to institutional reforms, deeper integration and technological modernisation, while sustaining a high level of multi-domain operational readiness,” it said in a statement.The theme for this year’s conference is Year of Reforms --- Transforming for the Future.The deliberations, the defence ministry said, will seek to further strengthen the armed forces which are agile and decisive in an increasingly complex geo-strategic landscape. “Continuing with the tradition of inclusive engagement, the conference will feature interactive sessions with officers and personnel of various ranks from the armed forces, ensuring that field-level perspectives enrich the discussions at the highest level.”The apex conference comes at a time when there are differences within the three services on theaterisation, a long-awaited reform for the best use of the military’s resources to fight future wars. Speaking at the Ran Samwad tri-services conclave held in Mhow in August, chief of defence staff General Anil Chauhan said that there may be a certain degree of dissonance among the three services over theaterisation but alternative points of view were being heard without temperatures rising.The differences, he said, would be resolved.At the same event, navy chief Admiral Dinesh K Tripathi said theaterisation was “the ultimate goal.”The comments came a day after chief of the air staff Air Chief Marshal AP Singh said the armed forces must not come under any pressure to form joint structures and should not pick any global model that may not be relevant in the Indian context, adding that joint planning and coordination in Delhi and decentralised execution is what is required.Singh’s remarks, also made during Ran Samwad, indicated that the three services held different views on the ongoing theaterisation drive.The CCC-2025 will be held four months after India launched Operation Sindoor in the early hours of May 7 and struck terror and military installations in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) following the April 22 Pahalgam terror strike in which 26 people were killed. Between the launch of the operation in the early hours of May 7 and the ceasefire on May 10 evening, Indian forces bombed nine terror camps in Pakistan and PoK, killing at least 100 terrorists, and struck targets at 13 Pakistani airbases and military installations.Chauhan earlier described Operation Sindoor as a modern conflict from which India had drawn several lessons. “Most of the lessons are under implementation and some have been implemented,” he said last month.