Air chief urges caution over India’s military reforms inspired by US, China

India’s top air commander has advised caution about an ongoing military overhaul that is the largest in seven decades, in a show of scepticism over a plan Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government is embracing.

“Disrupting everything and making one structure now at this time” may not be the best way forward, India’s Chief of Air Staff A.P. Singh said on Tuesday at a seminar to discuss new technologies and warfare.

India should not pick up “theatre commands” from any other country, Singh said at the event in Mhow, a garrison town in the central state of Madhya Pradesh. “We don’t really actually need another structure at the lower level,” he said.

Modi is looking to reorganise the military into theatre commands that would pool warships, patrol craft, soldiers and fighter jets. The commands would work with other missile and gun regiments that have a network of ground radar to address major threats along disputed borders with China and Pakistan.

India’s army, navy and air force mostly operate separately in training, equipment and planning. “I feel having joint planning and coordination at the apex level is what is required,” Singh said.

  

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