Turf war over theatre commands escalates, IAF Chief Bhadauria rejects CDS Rawat's 'supporting role' view

The bitter turf war over theatre commands escalated further with IAF Chief Air Chief Marshal RKS Bhadauria rejecting CDS General Bipin Rawat's views that IAF remains a supporting arm.

The bitter turf within the armed forces over the four proposed theatre commands escalated further with the Indian Air Force (IAF) Chief Air Chief Marshal RKS Bhadauria rejecting Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Bipin Rawat's views that the IAF remains a supporting arm just as artillery or engineers support the fighting forces. Big military turf war explodes!India Today’s @gauravCsawant shares important information.@nabilajamal_ pic.twitter.com/FtV8etBWM2 Speaking to India Today TV, Air Chief Marshal RKS Bhadauria said, "It's not a supporting role alone. Air power has a huge role to play. In any of the integrated battle areas, it's not an issue of support alone. A whole lot of things go into any air plan that's made. And those are the issues that are under discussion.""CDS was a big reform. The next biggest reform is the integrated theatre command. And it is much more complex. We're for establishing integrated theatre command. But the issues that we have raised are in our internal discussions, and it's to do with how we should do it. We must get it right. It's the most important reform that has an impact on war fighting," Air Chief Marshal RKS Bhadauria said.