By IANS,
New Delhi : Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will address the country’s top commanders of the army, navy and the air force Tuesday, when he is expected give direction to the military on the nation’s policies and perspectives vis-a-vis its security.
The prime minister will interact with the military top brass during the annual Combined Commanders Conference, which will also see an exchange of views on security and strategic affairs, keeping in view the scenario prevailing in the South Asian and Indian Ocean regions.
A review of the operational capabilities and force levels of the three services will also be undertaken.
Besides the prime minister, Defence Minister A.K. Antony, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna and Home Minister P. Chidambaram will talk to the military leadership on the complex issues before the country, according to defence ministry officials.
Internal security, military diplomacy and procurements of equipments for the three services too will be discussed and future projections made at the meet. Navy chief Admiral Nirmal Verma, army chief General Vijay Kumar Singh and air force chief Air Chief Marshal Norman Anil Kumar Browne will participate in the conference.
Alongside the combined conference, the individual services too will have the bi-annual five-day meets of their commanders where issues of manpower, weapons and equipment, military doctrines and policies would be debated.
The army, navy and air force commanders and the principal staff officers will meet separately from Monday to Saturday when they will focus on macro-level issues pertaining to operational preparedness, equipment sustainment for mission readiness and maximising combat power generation capability.
Improvement of habitat in high altitude areas, enhancing professional military education for scholar warriors, logistics and other administrative aspects too will come up for discussion.
The army commanders’ conference will also discuss professional military education to develop strategic leadership, that is adaptive and innovative in an environment of increasing volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity.
Procedures to ensure efficient budgetary management too would be high on the agenda of the army commanders’ conference.
As is customary, during the conference the last two days will be devoted to discuss military operational and human resource development matters.