India’s military brass will gather in Lucknow on September 4th and 5th for a rare collective brainstorming. The conference is to be presided over by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh. Besides Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) Gen Anil Chauhan, all Service Chiefs, Air Chief Marshal VR Chaudhari, Admiral Dinesh K. Tripathi and General Upendra Dwivedi, all 17 Commanders-in-Chief across the three Services and Heads of the two tri-services formations – the Andaman and Nicobar Command and the Strategic Forces Command – will be in attendance. They are expected to be joined by the Defence Secretary, the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) Chairman, and a host of senior functionaries in the Ministry of Defence (MoD).