Chief of Defence Staff

THE PROPOSED appointment of a Chief of Defence Staff gives us a unique opportunity to reorganise the Defence set-up of the country with the aim of improving efficiency, functional enhancement and greater integration in a tri-service approach to projects and resource sharing.

The proposed merger of the service headquarters with the Ministry of Defence and its associated financial advisors will enable the government to reallocate responsibilities, eliminate duplication and passing the buck from the service headquarters to the Ministry of Defence.

Ideally, the new appointment of the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) would take over the planning of operations and the conduct of various war-like operations with a unified staff in a more coherent manner; at present, the Chiefs of Staff of Army, Navy and Air Force function through a committee and present their views to the Cabinet Committee. In the past, it has been noticed that due to this loose set-up the projections and war strategies were being nullified by pulls and pressures of the three chiefs who would think of their own service interests and perceptions. The proposed CDS who will be senior to all the service chiefs would be able to present a unified, logical and unbiased approach to the Cabinet Committee in the prosecution of war. In the selection of the Chief of Defence Staff, the government will do well not to get pressured by the service lobbies and the other pressure groups thereby jeopardising the merit criteria. As a consequence of this reorganisation the existing chiefs of the three services would only be responsible for the individual organisation, training and routine logistic matters.

With the proposed set-up, the CDS would execute direct professional command and control for all operational requirements through merged operational commands located at various places. For example, the Western Command Headquarters (Chandigarh) and the Northern Command Headquarters (Udhampur) of the Army will have a total merger with the corresponding Air Commands that are located in Delhi (Western) and Udhampur (Northern). As a result of this change the existing Army operational commands, Navy's fleet headquarters and Air Force commands would no longer be controlled by their respective chiefs but a functional operational commander located at Western, Northern, Central, Eastern and Southern sectors. In the case of Southern Command since there is a preponderance of Naval forces, the merger of Southern Command, Pune, the Western Naval Command, Bombay and Southern Air Command, Trivandrum may be headed by a Naval Flag Officer.

Heartburning

There are major areas where there will be resistance from the existing authorities. Appointment of the Chief of Defence Staff from a particular service may cause intense heartburning among the other service chiefs. There is already a talk that the Navy and the Air Force feel threatened that the Army, being the largest service, would benefit by the appointment of an Army General as the CDS who would dominate the other two junior services.

The proposed operational commands would involve the subordination of the individual service formations and units to a combined Chief of Defence Staff thereby requiring a major change in the present mindset of service commanders. The bureaucrats in the Defence Ministry would have to shed some of their overriding powers and function in a new role forming a part of the unified Ministry of Defence.

It has also been proposed that all production and procurement units of the Ministry of Defence be clubbed under one Chief Executive of Procurement who will be responsible for the material supply chain of all weapons, ships, aircraft and hardware. The Chief Executive will coordinate the research, design, development and the production agencies of the Ministry of Defence including the 48 large ordnance factories. Added to this would be the merger of independent research and development establishments with the ordnance factories or public sector units that are geared for Defence Ministry's material items.

Ordnance factories

It has been proposed that all the ordnance factories and other defence production units should be converted to autonomous public sector companies with independent management techniques and the culture of other important private sector conglomerates. In fact, some of these public sector units could seek strategic alliances in manufacture with industrial stellars like Telco, Ashok Leyland and TVS.

This particular reorganisation would have to be given a time- frame of about 2 years for gestation and final implementation. The Defence procurement executive would make decisions on the make or buy process based on his own evaluation of urgency, technological criteria and capabilities of the indigenous sources. This is one function which attracts public attention because of the competition between giants of the military industrial complex who are desperately seeking orders to fill their coffers.

Though the proponents make claims of their superiority, the Chief Executive will have to make a subjective selection after weighing the matrix of various ratings for each system. The subjective nature of evaluation which causes doubts on the selection process can only be offset if the procurement executive and his team display high standards of professional integrity and offer their decisions for parliamentary sub-committee scrutiny.

The above reorganisation which will involve a major impact on the present role of the ordnance factories, controlled by a board of directors and the research establishments which are directly controlled by the scientific advisor, would naturally evoke great resistance from these independent empires that have long- developed their own hierarchy.

It is hoped that Mr. Jaswant Singh, the current Defence Minister and his advisor Mr. Arun Singh would have the will power, political backing and PR skills to thwart the attempts of various vested interests who would like the status quo to be always perpetuated.

VICE-ADMIRAL (RETD.) I. C. RAO

AND BRIG. (RETD.) A. THYAGARAJAN

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