Integrated Defence Staff (IDS)

Definition

A tri-service staff organisation in the Ministry of Defence that supports integrated planning, coordination and jointness among the Army, Navy and Air Force, and which provides the secretariat for the Chiefs of Staff Committee and the Chief of Defence Staff.

Key points

• The IDS was set up in 2001 following the recommendations of the Group of Ministers report (2001), itself a response to the Kargil Review Committee (1999), to improve inter-service coordination.
• It is headed by the Chief of Integrated Defence Staff to the Chairman, Chiefs of Staff Committee (the CISC), a three-star officer drawn in rotation from the three services.
• After the creation of the Chief of Defence Staff in 2020, the IDS functions as the principal staff support to the CDS for tri-service planning, jointness, doctrine and integration.
• Bodies under or linked to the IDS include the Defence Intelligence Agency, the Andaman and Nicobar Command and the Strategic Forces Command (the latter two are tri-service operational commands), and the National Defence College linkages for joint training.
• It coordinates long-term integrated perspective planning, joint doctrine, and the build-up towards theatre commands.

Why it matters for CAPF

The IDS is the backbone tri-service staff body; its 2001 origin, its link to the Kargil Review Committee, and its present support role to the CDS are standard defence-organisation facts.

Common confusion

The IDS is a staff and coordination organisation, not an operational fighting command; operational tri-service commands are the Andaman and Nicobar Command and the Strategic Forces Command. The CISC heads the IDS, while the CDS is the four-star single-point adviser it now serves.

Related concepts

concept chief of defence staff, concept tri service theatre commands, concept strategic forces command, concept andaman nicobar command

Parent note

indian defence forces and modernisation