Summary
In an exclusive PTI interview published on 25 October 2026, Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal A.P. Singh said the IAF is fully committed to jointness, but does not see theaterisation as a permanent geographic division of fighter assets.
He argued for structures built around India's own needs, guided by centralised control where necessary and decentralised execution where appropriate, introduced in phases so that readiness is never compromised. The proposed plan envisages three theatre commands: Northern (Lucknow), Western (Jaipur) and Maritime (Thiruvananthapuram).
The plan, announced in 2019, has stalled over inter-service differences. The core issue is that a thin fighter force cannot be divided into fixed regional packets without losing its main strength: the ability to mass at the decisive point.
WHY IT MATTERS FOR UPSC & STATE PCS
Air Chief Marshal A.P. Singh set out the IAF's position on theaterisation in a PTI interview published on 25 October 2026. He opposed any permanent geographic split of fighter assets and called for a phased, India-specific design built on centralised control and decentralised execution.
Standard News
Scarcity Versus Geography: The One Variable Driving the Theatre Debate
Here's what is actually at stake in India's theatre-command argument. The real disagreement is not about whether the Army, Navy and Air Force should fight together. Everyone, including the IAF, says they should. The disagreement is about who owns the fighter jets on a normal day. Should they be permanently assigned to regional commanders or kept in a pool that can be moved to wherever the fight is?
Why the
IAF wants a pool Think of a city with too few fire engines. It does not park one engine permanently in each neighbourhood, because when a big fire breaks out, a single engine would be outmatched while others sat idle across town.
It keeps them under one control room and sends many to the fire that matters. That is the logic Air Chief Marshal A.P. Singh laid out on 25 October 2026. He listed air power's strengths as speed, reach, flexibility and the ability to mass combat power quickly at the decisive point.
His principle was centralised control where necessary and decentralised execution where appropriate. Concentrate the jets centrally; let commanders on the ground use them freely once they arrive. The scarcity explains the urgency.
The IAF has about 30-31 fighter squadrons against a sanctioned 42. Split that force permanently among a Northern Theatre in Lucknow, a Western Theatre in Jaipur and a Maritime Theatre in Thiruvananthapuram and each command gets a thin slice.
None may have enough to win decisively, which soldiers call penny-packeting.
Where the
analogy stops working Fire engines can cross a city in minutes. Fighter jets also need bases, fuel, weapons and ground crews close to the action and those are geographic by nature. So "pooling" cannot mean keeping every aircraft in one place.
It means keeping the decision about where aircraft go at the centre, while airfields and support stay spread across the map. That is why Singh also warned against copying foreign models. The US runs 11 combatant commands and China reorganised into five theatre commands in 2016, but both can afford to fill each command with substantial air power.
India, for now, cannot.
Building jointness without slicing the fleet The IAF chief pointed to Operation Sindoor, the tri-service operation launched on 7 May 2025, where he has credited joint planning by the Chief of Defence Staff and the service chiefs for the outcome. His argument is that central allocation and quick reallocation of critical resources is what worked. Other building blocks are already in place:
- The ISO Act, 2023 gives commanders of inter-service organisations disciplinary and administrative control over personnel from all three services.
- Joint logistics nodes pool supply chains across services.
Quick Facts
Key numbers & takeaways — revise these first
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Air Chief Marshal A.P. (Amar Preet) Singh is Chief of the Air Staff.
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The proposed design envisages three integrated theatre commands: Northern Theatre Command (Lucknow) for China, Western Theatre Command (Jaipur) for Pakistan and Maritime Theatre Command (Thiruvananthapuram).
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The theaterisation drive began with the 15 August 2019 announcement creating the post of Chief of Defence Staff.
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The Department of Military Affairs was created with a mandate to promote jointness and facilitate theatre or joint commands.
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The IAF has a sanctioned strength of 42 fighter squadrons; its current strength is about 30-31.
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The Inter-Services Organisations (Command, Control and Discipline) Act, 2023 gives commanders of inter-service organisations disciplinary and administrative control over personnel from all three services.
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India's existing tri-service commands are the Andaman and Nicobar Command (2001, geographic) and the Strategic Forces Command (2003, functional).
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China reorganised seven military regions into five theatre commands in 2016.
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The US has 11 Unified Combatant Commands, six geographic and five functional.
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Operation Sindoor was launched on 7 May 2025 as a tri-service operation after the Pahalgam attack.
Connect the dots for your UPSC preparation.
Standard news covers the event. Log in to read our comprehensive analysis and uncover the hidden constitutional, structural, and ethical dimensions of this topic:
How "centralised control, decentralised execution" would actually work inside a theatre structure and where the fire-engine analogy breaks down.
Why the US and Chinese theatre models depend on fleet sizes India does not yet have.
The Andaman and Nicobar Command case study: what India's only geographic tri-service command reveals about asset ownership and divided loyalties.
A phased way forward using the ISO Act 2023, joint logistics and a central allocation mechanism.
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