Chief of Defense Staff (CDS), General Bipin Rawat refuted the allegation of setting impractical deadlines and milestones for creating theater commands.
Gen Rawat also said that the theater command was not taking away from the ‘one nation, one theater concept’ with the entire airspace of the country under one air defense command. The CDS stressed that the Air Force is responsible for the air defense of the entire country. But, along with this, it was also mandated to provide close air support to the land forces when they operated.