Bharatiya Janata Party · Lok Sabha General Election 2024
Last updated 3 Jun 2026
“We have established the position of Chief of Defense staff (CDS) for better coordination in the military. We will further establish the military theatre commands for more efficient operations.”
The Chief of Defence Staff post was created in January 2020, and the enabling legal framework — the Inter-Services Organisations (Command, Control and Discipline) Act, 2023 — is in force, with orders in June 2025 empowering the CDS to issue joint orders across the three services. The government declared 2025 a "Year of Reforms" for theatreisation, and by April 2026 the broader leadership structure of the proposed theatre commands had been finalised by the armed forces, pending Cabinet Committee on Security approval. However, the integrated theatre commands themselves have not yet been formally established (targeted before the current CDS’s tenure ends in May 2026). In progress. Partial.
Orders issued empowering the CDS to issue joint orders across the Army, Navy and Air Force under the Inter-Services Organisations Act 2023, advancing theatreisation.
View sourceWe will vastly expand domestic defence manufacturing and exports of Made in Bharat defence equipment. This effort will be facilitated by accelerating indigenisation in major Air and Land Equipment Platforms.
We will expand Bharat’s defence footprint across strategic locations and partner with friendly countries to protect Bharat’s and the Indian Ocean Region’s security interests.
We will further equip the Armed Forces and the Central Armed Police Forces with modern state-of-the-art weapons, equipment and technology to aid the swift disposal of any current and emerging threats.
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