China focus, jointness key tasks for army chief

Building capability to take on the military challenges posed by China, providing impetus to the theaterisation drive, improving the Army’s tooth-to-tail ratio, and optimally utilising the defence budget with focus on indigenisation are expected to be among the immediate priorities for India’s next army chief Lieutenant General Manoj Pande, who will take over the reins of the 1.3-million strong force on April 30.

Pande, who was named the next army chief by the government on Monday, will be the first officer from the Corps of Engineers to hold the top position. The 59-year-old general will have two years and one month to implement his vision for the army and address challenges that confront the force.

“The developments along our borders with China over the last two years have underscored the need to stay prepared for any contingency. One of his top priorities will be to sharpen the combat potential of the army to take on any challenge,” said a senior army officer, asking not to be named.

India and China have been locked in a border standoff in the sensitive Ladakh sector for almost two years. Despite three rounds of disengagement at friction points on the Line of Actual Control (LAC) — Galwan, Pangong Tso and Gogra — the two armies still have 50,000 to 60,000 troops each and advanced weaponry deployed in the Ladakh theatre.

The Indian Army and the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) have held 15 rounds of military talks since the standoff began in May 2020, but outstanding problems at a few friction points are yet to be resolved.

“Capability development of the army, particularly along the northern borders, to meet the emerging military challenges from China will be a top focus area for the new chief,” said Lieutenant General DS Hooda (retd), who was the Northern Army Commander when Pande was commanding a division in the Ladakh sector.

Reforms and restructuring of the army to create a leaner and more technologically advanced force will also be a priority, Hooda said.

Capability development of the army, making the force technology intensive and improving the tooth-to-tail ratio are among the issues that top the agenda of the ongoing Army Commanders’ Conference being chaired by the current chief General Manoj Mukund Naravane.

The tooth-to-tail ratio means the number of personnel (tail) required to support a combat soldier (tooth). In 2018, the army said it was looking at cutting more than 150,000 troops over the following five years under an overarching cadre review to sharpen the force’s effectiveness and prepare it for future wars.

Pande, who is currently the army’s vice chief, will take over as the army’s 29th chief at a time when India is working on a roadmap for the military’s theaterisation — a long-awaited defence reform — to best utilise the resources of the three services for future wars and operations. The current theaterisation model to enhance tri-service synergy seeks to set up four integrated commands — two land-centric theatres, an air defence command, and a maritime theatre command.

The three services are expected to submit comprehensive reports on theaterisation and join structures this month. “He will play a key role in implementing the theaterisation plans along with the other two chiefs,” said a second serving army officer on condition of anonymity.

The armed forces currently have 17 single-service commands spread across the country. The Indian Army and the Indian Air Force have seven commands each, while the Indian Navy has three. Creating theatres would involve merging the existing commands (except the Udhampur-based Northern Command).

The Indian Army’s Northern Command is the only single-service command that will stay outside the scope of the military’s theaterisation drive because of its critical role. It is responsible for guarding the country’s borders with Pakistan and China in the north, and is the nerve centre of counterterrorism operations in Jammu & Kashmir.

India’s first chief of defence staff (CDS) General Bipin Rawat, who was killed in a helicopter crash last December, was spearheading the theaterisation drive. The government is yet to appoint his successor. The CDS’s demise was seen as a setback to the ongoing military reforms, including theaterisation.

Enhancing the army’s operational readiness, infrastructure development along LAC, and optimal utilisation of the defence budget with focus on inducting locally produced military hardware and niche technologies will be a priority for the new chief, said former director general of military operations Lieutenant General Vinod Bhatia (retd).

Indigenisation of military hardware is one of the government’s top priorities. It has imposed a phased ban on the import of 310 weapons and platforms over the last two years to promote self-reliance in the defence sector. These include several systems needed by the army for its modernisation.

“Progressive implementation of indigenisation of military equipment will be another focus area,” said Hooda.

Releasing the third “positive indigenisation list” earlier this month, defence minister Rajnath Singh highlighted the pitfalls of operating imported weapons and systems whose software codes could be compromised and prove to be dangerous for the country’s security apparatus as it would open a window of vulnerability.

Pande also takes over as chief at a time when military planners are assessing the impact of the Russia-Ukraine war on India’s military preparedness as two-thirds of the country’s military equipment is of Soviet/Russian-origin.

Complications stemming from the sanctions slapped on Russia by the US and its allies on the back of the war in Ukraine have posed new challenges for the India-Russia defence relationship, put India’s military preparedness to the test, and assigned new urgency to reduce dependence on imported military hardware to stay battle-ready.

Review of professional military education in the army keeping in view future war fighting challenges will also be critical, Hooda said.

The government went by seniority in naming Pande as the next chief as he is currently the senior-most officer in the army after Naravane. In the past, there have been rare instances of the government selecting new service chiefs from a panel of top officers and overlooking seniority.

For instance, the government superseded two top generals — Lieutenant Generals Praveen Bakshi and PM Hariz — to appoint Rawat as army chief on December 31, 2016. Rawat’s experience in Jammu & Kashmir and the North-East tipped the scales in his favour.

Before assuming the charge of vice chief on February 1, Pande was heading the Kolkata-based HQs Eastern Command that is responsible for guarding India’s borders with China in the eastern sector.

His tenure saw the Indian Army deploy new weapon systems in the eastern sector to strengthen its posture against PLA, amid the lingering border row in Ladakh.

In his 39-year military career, Pande has commanded an engineer brigade in the western theatre, infantry brigade along LoC, a mountain division in the Ladakh sector and a corps in the North-East. He was the commander-in-chief of the Andaman and Nicobar Command before he took charge of the Eastern Command.