Plans under way to make Mumbai first tri-service common defence station

A common defence station would mean that all facilities of the Army, Navy, IAF will be combined — including logistics, infrastructure, repair and maintenance as well as stores and supplies— so that they could be optimised and brought under a common lead service. In the case of Mumbai, the Navy will be the lead service given that it has the largest presence there.

At present, wings of the three services are spread across Mumbai and its suburbs and operate separately. Under the plan, logistics, infrastructure and administration will be brought under a common chain.

The Navy’s INS Hamla and INS Karanja, for example, are responsible for imparting logistics training to Naval personnel and housing a major armament depot respectively. The Army’s ordnance depot, a separate training area, an air defence regiment and IAF units are planned to be combined for common usage by the three services.

An official said this will mean the logistics, services, and works of the individual services will be integrated so that there is a single system of delivery of supplies such as fuel and ration and common items can be repaired at one place.

“As per plans, the resources of the individual services will be shared by all and this would include infrastructure such as schools, hospitals and sports complexes; training facilities; as well as storages, repair and maintenance facilities and works,” the official said.

For example, the services of INHS Asvini — a Naval hospital in Mumbai — are also being used by the other two services.

A second official said this will lead to better optimisation and management of resources and avoid duplication of efforts since the idea is to have a single channel for funds and delivery and avoid redundancy.

Officials said that with Mumbai being the first common defence station being planned, Sulur (near Coimbatore) and Guwahati are likely to be chosen as locations for the second and third common defence stations. While the lead service for Sulur is likely to be IAF, the Army will likely be the lead service for the Guwahati station.