Army to get third deputy chief to tackle intelligence, military operations

As a part of its restructuring plans, the Indian Army is planning to get a third deputy chief who will look after all the important directorates of military intelligence and operations in the force.

At present, there are two deputy chiefs in the Army. The first is known as Deputy Chief (Planning and Systems) who looks after capital procurement in the force, while the second is known as Deputy Chief (Information systems and Training).

"As per the ongoing discussions, there is a plan to have a new Deputy Chief (Strategy) who will look after the directorates of Military Operations and Military Intelligence. This will also help in enhancing coordination between the two directorates," Defence sources told ANI.

The two directorates are headed by two different Lieutenant Generals.

The Defence Ministry has already been briefed by the Indian Army on its reorganisation plans where they have been given some instructions by the government.

In the other significant plans of the restructuring of Army Headquarters and reorganisation of the force, entire revenue procurement of the Indian Army is going to be handled by the Master General Ordnance (MGO), the sources said.

At present, the procurement of existing inventory of weapon systems is done by respective line directorates in the Army.

The Indian Army had ordered four separate studies as part of Army Chief Gen Bipin Rawat's plans on restructuring the force into a lean and mean fighting machine.

The Defence Ministry on its part had also ordered a separate study under Lt Gen DS Hooda for the same purpose.