Unified theatre command becomes operational

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, OCT. 6. The country's first tri-service unified command at the ground level (theatre) became operational with Vice-Admiral Arun Prakash taking over as the Commander-in-Chief (CiC) of Andaman and Nicobar (A&N) command today.

Holding the rank of CiC as is the case with other regional commanders, Admiral Prakash's headquarters staff will include officers from all the three services and the Coast Guard.

A naval officer has been selected to head the A&N unified command in view of its dominant view over some vital sea lanes but, thereafter, the Government is open to naming a suitable officer from any of the three armed forces.

As the first C-in-C of the tri-service command at the theatre level, Admiral Prakash would exercise operational command of the Army, Naval, Air Force and Coast Guard forces located on the A&N island group.

The new system at A&N is expected to promote the concept of C3 - command, control and communications - and is expected to become the forerunner for tri-service commands at other regional levels.

The Admiral is a graduate from the National Defence Academy (NDA) and is a naval fighter pilot. He is the recipient of Vishist and Ati Vishist Seva Medals, was the fleet commander of the eastern naval fleet and had participated in the '71 war with as a fighter bomber squadron.

His place as Chief of Personnel at the Naval Headquarters here has been taken by Vice-Admiral Madanjit Singh. He was heading the implementation cell in the Ministry of Defence, which is handling issues relating to restructuring of higher defence organisation.

As part of the restructuring, Lt. Gen. Pankaj Joshi has been appointed the country's first Chief of Integrated Defence Staff (CIDS).

This is a slight modification of the original plan to integrate the defence headquarters at the Central level by creating an office of Chief of Defence Staff (CDS). The creation of the post has been held in abeyance and the number two post has been redesignated as CIDS for the time-being.

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Section  : National
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