Air Defence Command by June; CDS Rawat gets cracking

A day after assuming charge, Chief of Defence Staff Bipin Rawat on Thursday issued directions to prepare a proposal to create a separate Air Defence Command by June and ordered cutting down of “infructuous ceremonial activities”.

The directions were issued at a meeting of important functionaries of the Headquarters of the Integrated Defence Staff convened by General Rawat here.

“General Rawat directed various branch heads to come up with recommendations for inter-service synergy and jointness in a time-bound manner,” an official statement said here.

It added that the CDS also directed that a proposal to create Air Defence Command be prepared by June 30, 2020.

At present, all the three services have their own air defence set up, the proposed Air Defence Command is expected to integrate the existing structures to provide air defence cover to the country.

General Rawat also set out priorities for the execution of synergy by June 30 and December 31 2020.

“Some of the areas identified for jointness and synergy include the creation of common logistics support pools in stations where two or more services have their presence,” the statement said.

Emphasising collegiate system of functioning, General Rawat directed that all three services and Coast Guard must be consulted and their views obtained in a time-bound manner.

“Decisions will, however, be taken to ensure optimisation of resources. Efforts will be made to cut out infructuous ceremonial activities, which are manpower intensive,” the statement said.

The CDS also stressed that all must work towards accomplishing desired results and coming up with healthy views and ideas.

General Rawat retired as the Chief of the Army Staff on Tuesday and assumed charge as the country's first Chief of Defence Staff on Wednesday.