The armed forces are planning to make Mumbai the country’s first ” tri-service common defense station ” for the Army, Navy and Indian Air Force (IAF) – which aims to achieve synergy between the three services. Chaitanya Galam learned about Integrated Theater Commands.

Officials said that discussions are being held with high-ranking military officials and a decision is likely to be taken soon. At present, there are no regular defense stations in India. The Andaman and Nicobar Command is a full-fledged command raised in 2001 as a tri-service command. Other efforts to bring commonality between services—such as inter-service postings—were brought in last year.

A common defense station is where all the facilities of Army, Navy, IAF are combined – including logistics, infrastructure, repair and maintenance as well as stores and supplies – they are optimized and brought under a common core service.

As for Mumbai, the Navy will be the main service as it has the largest presence there. Currently, the three service wings are spread across Mumbai and its suburbs and operate separately. Under the plan, logistics, infrastructure and administration will be brought under a common chain.

The Navy’s INS Hamla and INS Karanja, for example, are tasked with providing logistics training to naval personnel and establishing a major weapons depot. Army’s Ordnance Depot, Special Training Area, Air Defense Regiment and IAF units are planned to be combined for common use by the three services.

This means that the logistics of individual services, services and works are integrated, that there is a single system for the distribution of supplies such as fuel and rations, and that common items can be repaired at one place.

“Under the plans, personal services resources will be shared by all and include infrastructure such as schools, hospitals and sports complexes; training facilities; Also stocks, repair and maintenance facilities and works,” the official said.

For example, the services of INHS Ashwini, a naval hospital in Mumbai, are also utilized by two other services. A second official said this would lead to better optimization and management of resources and avoid duplication of efforts as the idea is to have a single channel for funding and delivery and avoid redundancy.

With Mumbai planned as the first common defense station, Sulur (near Coimbatore) and Guwahati are likely to be selected as locations for the second and third common defense stations, officials said. While IAF is the lead service for Sulur, Army is the lead service for Guwahati station.