‘Tetra Group’ And Four Operational Commands Of Indian Defence Forces
In order to strengthen the operational preparedness along the China front from Arunachal Pradesh to the Indian Ocean Region, four operational commands of Indian defence forces came together to work in harmony to enhance jointness and integration amongst themselves to counter any sort of attack by the northern adversary.
What is the TETRA group?
The ‘Tetra’ group refers to the combination of four commands which have come together and are being called ‘Tetra’. According to top government sources, the grouping comprises the Shillong-based Eastern Air Command, the Kolkata-based Eastern Army Command, the Navy’s Eastern Command located in Vishakhapatnam, and the country’s only functioning tri-services, Andaman and Nicobar Command situated in Port Blair.
The step backed by the respective headquarters of the three forces was an initiative of the Eastern Air Command. It is also considered a significant step toward the establishment of integrated theatre commands, as envisioned by the Narendra Modi administration. . The heads of these commands including Lt Gen RP Kalita, Vice Admiral B Dasgupta, Air Marshal DK Patnaik and Lt Gen Ajai Singh had met last week in Shillong to discuss the ways to eliminate all differences and hurdles with the aim of combining their efforts towards an integrated approach to tackle the challenges on the northern front, government sources told ANI.
The four commands are responsible for the security of the country from Arunachal Pradesh in the northeast to the southernmost landmass of the country in the Andaman and Nicobar islands and all these areas have a common threat from the Chinese side and for that they have been maintaining high-level operational preparedness in view of the military standoff with China which began two years ago.
The Centre has also bolstered the strength of northeastern region particularly in terms of military strength and infrastructure development in the past years.
The region has seen the deployment of a squadron of Rafale fighter jets in Hashimara to support the Su-30MKI fighter fleet and planned induction of the S-400 air defence systems in the Assam sector in the next few weeks for the Air Force. The Army deployment has also been strengthened as the 17 Mountain Strike Corps has now been completely dedicated to offensive operations in the Northeast and it has been provided with an additional division to give it more powerful muscles.
India and China have been engaged in a military standoff for the last two years now in the eastern Ladakh sector. Both the countries have been at odds in Ladakh, with forces stationed on opposing sides of the Ladakh-Arunachal border. The negotiations to address the matter at both the political and military levels are ongoing, but forces are bracing for any form of misadventure. by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army.