Can Indian Armed Forces Finally Learn to Stay United?

On May 14, the Government announced the raising of the Armed Forces Special Operations Division (AFSOD) with Major General AK Dhingra as its first head. The AFSOD, with elements drawn from the Indian Army's Parachute Regiments (Special Forces), Indian Navy’s Marine Commandos (MARCOS), and the Garud Commandos of the Indian Air Force, will function under the HQ of the tri-services Integrated Defence Staff. Starting with 3000 soldiers, the AFSOD will reportedly have its own dedicated helicopters, transport planes and specialised weaponry besides surveillance equipment.

To be based at Agra (where the Parachute Brigade is located), the AFSOD is one of the three new strategic-level raisings that were approved by the Defence Ministry in Sept 2018, and by the Government in December 2018. This was in consonance with the recommendations of the 2012 Naresh Chandra Task Force. The other two organizations are the Defence Cyber Agency (DCA), being set up at Delhi under Rear Admiral Mohit Gupta, and the Defence Space Agency (DSA), being raised at Bangalore with Air Marshal SP Dharkar as its chief. Together, all three agencies represent India’s resolve to address the evolved, new age threats.

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