Is Multi-Domain Operations (MDO) the Answer to the Ongoing Theaterisation Debate?

India’s Theatre Command (Theaterisation), although an urgent/imperative strategic and operational necessity, remains under debate. Issues have largely revolved around service-specific concerns, resource allocation, geographic area of responsibility and difficulty in finding common ground due to institutional resistance and differing perceptions, hence slowing the process.

Multi-Domain Operations (MDO), another strategic and operational necessity requiring implementation, is also inextricably linked to Theaterisation. The linkage of Theaterisation and MDO is not getting highlighted in the general discourse. In brief, without MDO, Theaterisation, if done, will not yield the desired results. Conversely, MDO, if progressed, can provide the momentum to progress Theaterisation.

Importance of MDO for Theatre Commands  

Theatre Commands unify command of all military forces in a geographic area (e.g., Western, Eastern, Northern fronts), ensuring jointness between the Army, Navy, and Air Force in that specific region. While Multi-Domain Operations (MDO) aim to integrate land, air, sea, cyber, space, and the information environment into a seamless operational framework. With MDO, the focus shifts from purely geographic structures to functional, cross-domain integration.

Theatre commands manage where the operations are conducted, and MDO – how the operations are conducted. Theatre commands created without the implementation of MDO largely amount to structural and resource re-organisation, but without the required wherewithal to execute synergised operations, i.e., cross-domain operations. This aspect is highlighted in Table 1 below:

Table No 1

Multi-Domain Operations: The Missing Catalyst for India’s Theaterisation

MDO offers both the rationale and the momentum to move forward towards theaterisation. MDO is not a competing concept to theaterisation; in fact, it can become the engine that drives theaterisation as it offers both a conceptual framework and a practical impetus to push the process forward.

• MDO enables Integration – Current efforts for traditional jointness emphasise cooperation; MDO will automatically enable seamless, real-time integration. It requires that sensors, shooters, and decision-makers across services act as one interconnected combat system. Therefore, the enabling of MDO naturally compels theaterisation and its consequent structural reform.
• MDO Creates a Common Threat Matrix – Each service views threats through its own doctrinal lens – Army through land, the Air Force through airspace dominance, and the Navy through sea control. MDO challenges this compartmentalisation. By viewing warfare as an interconnected ecosystem, it forces planners to think jointly about capability development, resource prioritisation, and mission design. MDO unifies minds before it unifies commands.
• Technology as the Bridge – MDO relies on networked C4ISR systems, AI-enabled decision support, and data fusion — all inherently cross-service capabilities. For these technologies to function effectively, the services must integrate their communication networks and data architectures, share real-time situational awareness, and develop interoperable standards for information sharing and mission planning. Once such digital integration occurs, organisational integration follows naturally.
• Resolving the Command Dilemma – The debate around theaterisation has often centred on command hierarchies — “who commands whom.” MDO reframes the question entirely: “Who commands the effects?” In future wars, victory will depend not on the ownership of platforms but on the ability to deliver synchronised multi-domain effects. Once this shift from service ownership to effects ownership is embraced, theaterisation ceases to be an administrative reform and becomes an operational imperative.
• MDO Enables Intellectual Integration Before Structural Integration – The greatest obstacle to theaterisation is not technology or structure — it is mindset. MDO-based joint wargaming, mission design, and training can build common operational language, align threat perception, shift focus from platform ownership to mission outcome and cultivate a shared cognitive operating system across services. MDO, therefore, becomes the intellectual bridge to theaterisation. It transcends service boundaries and challenges siloed command logic. Thus, Theaterisation does not become merely a structural reform (as some challenge) – it becomes an operational imperative. Traditional logic (current perceptions) is then transformed into MDO logic, as shown in Table No. 2 below:

  Table No 2

  Traditional Logic	MDO Logic
  Who owns the platform?	Who delivers the effect?
  Geography defines command	Data, precision, and cross-domain effects define command
  Services operate in sequence	Services operate simultaneously

  Execution of Theaterisation

  Evolutionary Process – Theaterisation in the Indian Context should be evolutionary and in sync with MDO/netcentricity implementation. Since MDO offers a common ground for operational integration, the functional aspects of Theaterisation should be addressed first, i.e., AD Command, Cyber/Space Command, or Logistics. The purpose of Theaterisation, which is to enhance combat efficiency, should not be lost at any time during the execution.

  Foundational Layer – There is a need to establish the foundational layer for Theaterisation & MDO, which is enabling netcentricity across all domains for execution of operations by following:-

  • Develop a MDO Doctrine – Define how India will fight across land, sea, air, cyber, space, and information.
  • Net-Centric Backbone – There is a need to create a secure, indigenous, and interoperable Net-Centric Backbone, which is a C4ISR system (utilising satellite-based communications, AI-enabled decision tools, and real-time data fusion). MDO/net-centricity is not a later step — it is the foundation. Without it, theatre commands will be “joint” in name but not truly integrated.
  • Cyber & Space Empowerment – Strengthen the Defence Cyber Agency and Defence Space Agency into full-fledged commands that can plug into theatre structures.

  Transforming Theatre Commands into Multi-Domain Commands – An MDO-enabled theatre command would include the following, and the result is a theatre commander who commands effects, not just forces: –

  • Tri-service combat forces
  • Integrated cyber, space, and electronic warfare elements
  • Shared real-time intelligence and data fusion backbone
  • Common operating picture and unified sensor grid
  • AI-enabled decision support and high-speed C2 networks
  • Ability to prosecute cross-theatre and cross-domain effects                                                                                                                                                             MDO Alone is not Adequate –“If MDO integrates everything anyway, why have theatres at all?” Some may argue that this question is incorrect, as Theatres provide the command authority, joint ISR, planning, and operational organisations, manage and control resources, and manage and control areas of responsibility, etc. MDO without Theaterisation = capability without command authority, and Theaterisation without MDO = structural reform without operational synergised capability. Only together do they create decisive combat power.Why India Needs MDO-Driven Theaterisation Now – The need for this military transformation is urgent and majorly because of the following: –
    • Adversaries – The PLA’s Theatre Commands, PLA Aerospace Force, the PLA Cyberspace Force, and the PLA Information Support Force are designed for unified multi-domain campaigning. With collusive support from China, Pakistan also would greatly display similar capabilities – some were evident during Operation Sindoor. India cannot counter an integrated adversary with a segregated warfighting approach.
    • Technology Forces Integration – Networked battlefield systems, AI-enabled ISR, precision strike grids, and real-time data pipelines cannot function inside service silos. Digital integration leads to operational integration — and eventually, command integration.
    • Threat Spectrum Has Expanded – Grey-zone warfare, hybrid threats, information ops, and drone swarms demand faster joint responses than current structures allow.Conclusion: MDO as the Bridge to India’s Military Transformation

      India’s choice is not between MDO and theaterisation. The choice is between integrated deterrent power and fragmented legacy warfighting. MDO provides the doctrinal foundation, technology architecture, and operational necessity for unified theatre commands. It unifies minds before unifying commands, ensuring reform is driven by warfighting logic, not administrative compulsion. MDO is the operating system. Theaterisation is the hardware. India needs both — urgently — to confront future conflict.

      Multi-Domain Operations provide both the intellectual justification and the operational pressure for India’s theaterisation. Even if institutional inertia slows structural reform, the demands of multi-domain integration — technological, operational, and cognitive — will ultimately make theaterisation the only viable path for effective warfighting.

      Lt Gen Karanbir Brar (Retd)

Lt Gen Karanbir Brar (Retd)

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The author is former DG, Armoured Corps

• Lt Gen Karanbir Brar (Retd)

  https://bharatshakti.in/author/karanbir_brar123/

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