Chief of Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan on Tuesday went into a huddle with top commanders from the tri-services of Army, Navy and Air Force to fine-tune a blueprint for the creation of maritime command which would be one of the three theatre commands that would be raised to meet future warfare demands.

General Chauhan’s meeting with top brass of tri-services commands of peninsular and island territories country at the two-day Tri-Services Commanders’ Conference which began at Western Navy Command in Mumbai on Tuesday follows similar exercise the Chief of Defence State undertook recently with military commanders deployed to secure borders with China, said sources.

Representatives from Andaman and Nicobar command, Southern Air and Naval command and Navy’s western and eastern command were present in the meeting with the Chief of Defence Staff for raising lone maritime theatre command that would oversee security along the entire Indian Ocean and Pacific region that is now seeing increased activity from Chinese navy.

The push for jointness of the three armed forces has gathered pace after the passage of the Inter-Services Organisation (Command, Control and Discipline) Bill, 2023 by parliament early this month. The Bill seeks to empower the commander-in-chief and commanding officers of Inter-Services Organisations (ISOs) with all disciplinary and administrative powers in respect of the personnel serving in or attached to such organisations.