Army gets agile, lean and lethal for future warfare
There are now around 1,100 officers posted at the Army Headquarters, of which some 230 will be shifted out.
New Delhi: The Indian Army will undertake a major restructuring of its headquarters, which will lead to the shifting of 20 per cent of young officers posted in New Delhi back to units and field formations. This restructuring is to make the Army more agile, lean and lethal for future warfare.
A new deputy chief of army staff strategy (DCOAS Strategy) post is being created who will deal with all operational and force planning. He will have the Military Operations, Military Intelligence, Strategic Planning and Operational Logistics branches, as well as the newly-created Information Warfare branch under him.
At present the director-general of military operations (DGMO) and the DG (Military Intelligence) report to the Army Chief or the vice-chief. In keeping with the needs of future battlefields, hybrid warfare and social media reality, the new DG (Information Warfare) will have under him the erstwhile ADGs of Public Information (PI) and Information Warfare (IW).
There are now around 1,100 officers posted at the Army Headquarters, of which some 230 will be shifted out.
A study on the Army HQ reorganisation was one of the four Army studies ordered by Army Chief Gen. Bipin Rawat in June last year in consultation with the defence ministry. While the studies are driven by an inherent operational need, they remain focused on enhancing capability by restructuring for future wars and finding a right balance between revenue spending and modernisation. The defence ministry has accepted all the recommendations by the Army HQ Reorganisation Study submitted on february 27.
The second major reform which has been accepted by the defence ministry is merging of separate verticals of the deputy chief of army staff (planning and system division) and the Master General Ordnance (MGO), looking after the Army’s procurements into one office of DCOAS (Capability Development and Sustenance). The office will handle the Army’s budget. “Towards the Army’s capability-based modernisation needs, this will synergise and coalesce all revenue and capital spending under one organisation and effectively prioritise competing needs with an operational focus to get better value for funds allocated by the government,” said sources.
Now all acquisitions of the Army will be handled by a new office under the director-general (capability development), which has been formed by merging the office of deputy chief (P&S) and the director-general (weapons and equipment). Moreover, the revenue budget will be handled by DG (sustenance).
The third major reform is that the Army’s Training Command based in Shimla will now be sole adviser to the Army Chief on all training matters. The Military Training Directorate (MT Dte) in Delhi is being merged into the Army Training Command (ARTRAC) in Shimla. Two new branches headed by officers of the rank of major general are being created for vigilance and human rights issues.
The new ADG (vigilance) will function directly under the Chief of Army Staff while the new ADG (human rights) will function under the VCOAS. The ADG (vigilance) will also have a new Vigilance Investigation Unit under him.
The study had aligned the Army Headquarters’ old legacy branches under the functional requirements of the future battlefield.