8th Commandants Conclave Concludes at College of Defence Management, Secunderabad

The 8th Commandants Conclave concluded at the College of Defence Management in Secunderabad, gathering the heads of India's premier military training institutions under one roof. Vice Admiral Rajesh Dhankhar, Deputy Chief of Integrated Defence Staff for Doctrine, Organisation and Transformation, chaired the forum.

Few gatherings put the commandants of the Army, Navy and Air Force training establishments in the same room. This one does.

Who attended the 8th Commandants Conclave

Six institutions sent their commandants. The Army War College at Mhow, the Defence Services Staff College at Wellington, the host College of Defence Management, the College of Air Warfare, the Naval War College and the Military Institute of Technology were all represented.

These are the schools where the country trains its mid career and senior officers for staff appointments, command and the higher direction of war. The conclave is where the officers who run them sit down together and compare notes, an exercise that mirrors the broader push toward an integrated military reflected in the recent Standing Committee on Defence review of the Army's role.

Jointness and pedagogy on the agenda

Vice Adm Dhankhar pushed the discussion toward jointness, the principle underpinning India's shift to integrated theatre commands. Tri service education is one of the quieter levers of that shift. Officers who learn alongside their counterparts from the other two services tend to fight better with them later.

Why tri service training counts

Faculty development and teaching methods filled out much of the agenda. The commandants examined how to modernise pedagogy and how to build deeper links between the institutions, so that what is taught at one informs the work of the others. The Ministry of Defence has kept professional military education a standing priority, a thread visible from officer events such as the recent Retiring Officers' Seminar attended by the Army Chief.

Vice Adm Dhankhar in the chair

As Deputy Chief of Integrated Defence Staff for Doctrine, Organisation and Transformation, Vice Adm Dhankhar sits at the centre of how the armed forces think about reform. Chairing the conclave placed that brief directly over the institutions that shape the next generation of commanders.

A standing forum for military leadership

The 8th Commandants Conclave is described as a platform for sharing best practices and for nurturing future military leadership through academic excellence and collaborative learning. It returns each year.

The hardware side of the same modernisation story has been busy too, from new doctrine to the indigenous warships joining the fleet in the Navy's recent tri commissioning at Kolkata. Training the people who will command that hardware is the other half of the equation.

HQ Integrated Defence Staff functions under the Ministry of Defence and coordinates tri service matters across the armed forces, with the Integrated Defence Staff running the institutional machinery behind jointness. Official releases on such events are routinely carried by the Press Information Bureau.

The HQ IDS announcement is below.

HQ IDS on X: 8th Commandants Conclave at the College of Defence Management, Secunderabad