A significant milestone.
India’s candidate, Prof. (Dr.) Bimal N. Patel, has been elected Judge of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) for the term 2026–35.
We thank all member states for their trust in India and congratulate Prof. Patel and all eminent members elected to the Tribunal.
This is a great question. The answer is no, it's unprecedented and may not be repeated for some time. The average service life for US Navy nuclear submarines is 25-30 years. Ohio-class boats are the longest serving in history because of where they fall in the history of reactor-life/core enhancement. The sweet spot on the cusp between needing-to-be-refueled and long-life cores... and they have been pushed to the absolute hull limits because of that.
Historically, nuclear submarines were built to be refueled, since the cores didn't last nearly as long as the hull. Nautilus was refueled 3 times. Refueling is very costly and takes the boat out of service for a long time. As core-life was lengthened, they were built for mid-life refueling.
Ohio-class submarines were the last American nuclear submarines built to be refueled. Classes designed after Ohio-class boats were built with "life-of-ship" reactor cores. This means they contain enough nuclear fuel to operate for their entire planned service lives without the need for a mid-life refueling overhaul.
Virginia-class will never serve that long, we'll have to wait for SSN(X) specs. The S1B reactor designed for Columbia-class submarines features a life-of-ship core with an extremely long life, approximately 42 years. Will they be able to squeeze a bit more out and one will surpass Ohio? Those of you that are young enough to be around in the 2070s-2080s will have to wait to find out.
We have come a long way from my youth, when India refused to recognise France as an Indian Ocean Littoral...infact used to oppose it as a leftover colonial.power with La Reunion, Tromelin etc.
France remains only coloniser with a territory in every sea & ocean of globe.
Foreign secretary Vikram Misri says India, France relationship is "our strongest bilateral relationship at global scale" with collaboration in Defence, Space, Civil Nuclear; Calls France a "resident power" in Indo Pacific
@J_Harpreetsingh Devotion that pilgrims had two decades ago when I took my family to Hemkund Sahib & Char Dham is missing.
Young male weapon wielding Sikh tourists on loud bikes SUV & kanwariyas are ultra aggressive & a nuisance. Message from Hemkund Sahib mgt is timely & must be listened to.
@J_Harpreetsingh Actually, unruly, loud, crude & aggressive behaviour of tourists is to blame.
Been driving through HP, UK, JnK etc past decade. Visitors from Punjab, Haryana, West UP behave like invaders. Zero civic sense, trash,insulting locals, illegal flagpoles & Sikh weapon intimidation.
Not to mention that India is also the only Asian Nuclear power facing China. Australia & Japan are non nuclear.
Trump's current love Asim Munir of Pakistan has anon negotiable position on China as Ally.
US taxpayer money on think tanks & analysts is wasted with current policy
Of all members of Quad, only India has 4000km of land border with China & has army that is actually fighting China.
US cannot face China without India & Japan. All others incl Australia are minor players.
Trump admin is signing SURRENDER before the fight by alienating India.
The dropping of “Indo” from PACOM signals the decreasing significance of India in Washington’s strategic thinking.
There were already hints of this in Hegseth’s Shangri-La speech. “India was mentioned last,” an Asian diplomat said.
Hegseth praised the efforts of South Korea, the Philippines, Japan, Australia, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam before finally turning to India.
https://t.co/R81CvlVJzg
This Moscow attack makes it clear...
Uncrewed Systems, sensors to detect them & Methods to counter them is where Indian money must go. They are not also have....but must have ! Forces hv to spend 50:50 on them compared to super expensive conventional platforms. All 3 services.
The Russian Ministry of Defense reports that approximately 1,000 Ukrainian drones have attacked Moscow.
Let us first note that Ukraine is now capable of launching up to a thousand unmanned aerial systems (UAVs) in a single wave. And it is not merely a matter of possessing such a number of drones—Zelenskyy has already announced that Ukraine will produce 10 million of them this year.
It is a question of command, logistics, and personnel resources. It is about the ability to organize an attack of this magnitude in the first place: setting up launchers, transporting components, conducting reconnaissance, planning, target assignment, launching, tracking, and post-strike assessment. That is a massive undertaking that must be managed.
And Ukraine is capable of doing so.
But what happens when that number rises to two thousand UAVs? Or five thousand?
Just imagine that.
@DKatcoff@AmbJohnBolton It took 30 years of bipartisan effort in both countries to reach someplace of understanding & comfort..and one year of a bull in China shop to wreck it....
Pandering is not required, just long term policy & respect.
US has 2.5 years more of wreck the world ahead..