DC Edit | New CDS’ Role Is Likely To Grow

Two key appointments have been announced in the armed forces with both high-ranking officers to take charge at the end of May. Lt Gen. Raja Subramani will take over as Chief of Defence Staff from Gen Anil Chauhan on May 30, and Vice-Admiral Krishna Swaminathan will be the next chief of the Indian Navy from May 31. Both appointments will have a bearing on how the forces move in defence modernisation and integrating military structures.

To carry forward the momentum achieved in Operation Sindoor in May 2025, which was a significant milestone in terms of combative operations of all branches of the military, will be the officers’ major responsibility as a strategic shift comes about in India’s defence policy now.

The role of the CDS will be especially important as his appointment from serving as the military adviser to the National Security Council Secretariat to heading the combined forces is expected to bring about greater coordination and integration of the Army, Navy and Air Force. He will only be the third CDS, a role created to tackle the complexities of the defence environment that has transformed in the most modern era in terms of technological warfare and non-conventional challenges.

The basic challenge has not changed in terms of a two-front threat that India has faced in its modern military history with exchanges on the northern and western borders with China and Pakistan, besides an operation in the east in 1971 that ended in Pakistan being cut in two. But modern warfare is demanding entirely new outlooks on how to take on the emerging principal threat of drones of the sophisticated and toy store varieties.

The CDS role was created to provide a single point of military advice to civilian leadership. The greater aim was to help give shape to theaterisation, which programme has moved into a consequential phase this year as part of a 20-year blueprint to build data-centric, multi-domain operations capability of the armed forces.

However delayed we believed that the take-off of the Integrated Theatre Command programme was, the usefulness of starting work on it did come through as seen in the precision of cross-border strikes in live-fire conditions in Operation Sindoor. The distinguished and decorated general and admiral now carry the responsibility of preparing the forces for the challenges of security in the 21st century.