Besides Gen Bipin Rawat, Army chief Gen M M Naravane and IAF Chief Air Chief Marshal V R Chaudhari would interact with the naval commanders on a range of issues

Amidst an inter-service friction on the creation of proposed theatre commands, top officers of the Indian Navy will meet in the national capital next week for a Commanders Conference during which the Chief of Defence Staff Gen Bipin Rawat would talk to the Navy commanders on the “convergence” of the three services in an operational environment.

Besides Gen Bipin Rawat, Army chief Gen M M Naravane and IAF Chief Air Chief Marshal V R Chaudhari would interact with the naval commanders on a range of issues, including ways to enhance tri-services synergy in view of the evolving regional security scenario, a Navy spokesperson said on Saturday.

The conference is happening at a time when the IAF expressed its opposition to the proposal, which is being pushed by the CDS. The plan includes merging the Eastern and Western Commands of the Indian Navy to create a Peninsular Command to tackle all types of sea borne threats.

India currently has 19 military commands, out of which 17 are distributed between the Army (7), Navy (3) and IAF (7). The remaining two are tri-service Andaman and Nicobar Command and Strategic Forces Command under the Integrated Defence Staff.

At the conference, Navy Chief Admiral Karambir Singh along with other commanders will review issues relating to operational, logistics, training and human resource development and deliberate upon future plans for "important activities and initiatives".