First Defence Minister-led Joint Commanders' Conference to discuss security challenges, future warfare

By Ajit Dubey
New Delhi [India], August 16 : Defence Minister Rajnath Singh is scheduled to address all the top military commanders during the first ever Joint Commanders' Conference planned to be held on September 4-5 in Lucknow.
The conference would be held with the theme "Sashakt aur Surakahit Bharat: Transforming the Armed Forces' (String and Secure India: Transforming the Armed Forces').
The first day of the conference would be addressed by the Chief of Defence Staff, where the topmost defence officer in the country is expected to address the military commanders on how the wars of the future will be fought and how the Indian armed forces will tackle the security challenges through transformation into Theatre Commands, defence sources told ANI.
The Joint Commanders' Conference led by the Defence Minister would be held every year by the forces, while the Combined Commanders' Conference headed by the Prime Minister would be held every two years.
The last CCC meeting was held in Bhopal in March 2023 and the next one is expected to be held in March 2025.
The second day of the JCC is scheduled to be addressed by the Defence Minister, who is expected to list out all the security challenges facing the country and give out his directives to the forces on the issue.
The armed forces under the Defence Ministry carry out their specific roles based on the operational directives of the Defence Minister.
The conference will also see presentations being made by the different directorates of the defence forces, including operations, during the conference.
The conference will also have discussion on the different Make in India initiatives in the forces and the progress made by the services.
The defence ministry has allocated over 70 per cent of its budget to services for buying made-in-India weapon systems and multiple products have been successfully tested and inducted.
The Indian defence forces have learnt from the ongoing conflicts in the Middle East and Russia-Ukraine that indigenisation is the only way the forces can fight long drawn wars without waiting for foreign supplies.
The biggest transformation of the defence forces post independence towards the creation of theatre commands will also be on the agenda of the meeting.
The initiative being taken forward by the Chief of Defence Staff has seen multiple steps taken by the Department of Military Affairs towards enhancing jointness and creating a common defence culture.
A lot of jointness is being seen in the conduct of operations and operations on the ground, like maintenance and common procurement procedures and cases.