The India-US strategic partnership is characterised by mutual trust and both sides are increasingly in agreement on key issues, such as countering China's aggression, promoting a free and open Indo-Pacific and addressing regional security challenges, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said on Friday.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese became the first foreign leader to visit the pride of the Indian Navy, the INS Vikrant, India's first indigenously built aircraft carrier.
The Quad summit to be hosted by India in 2024 is likely to enhance New Delhi's strategic intent.
Returning home after a five-day high-profile state visit to China, Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu on Saturday struck a defiant note saying that his country may be small but 'doesn't give them the license to bully us'.
Scientists claim to have discovered remains of a lost ancient continent between India and Madagascar, found buried under huge masses of lava.
The submarines are being constructed at Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited in Mumbai in collaboration with the Naval Group of France.
Indian Navy's elite marine commandos on Friday rescued 21 crew members including 15 Indians from a bulk carrier in the North Arabian Sea and sanitised it in a swift operation while responding to an attempted hijacking of the Liberian-flagged vessel by around five-six armed personnel.
Commander Abhilash Tomy, a retired Naval officer, has become the first Indian to complete the prestigious Golden Globe Race. He finished second in the race, a solo around-the-world sailing race, which started on September 4, 2022 from Les Sables-d'Olonne in France.
Days ahead of a scheduled hearing of a batch of pleas related to the abrogation of Article 370 before a five-judge Constitution bench of the Supreme Court, Indian Administrative Service officer Shah Faesal on Tuesday said the constitutional provision is a thing of the past and there is no going back.
India is likely to experience below-normal monsoon rainfall this year, with a 20 per cent chance of drought due to the end of La Nina conditions and the potential for El Nino to take hold, private forecasting agency Skymet Weather said on Monday.
Singh said India has intensified patrolling of the seas after the recent attacks on merchant navy ships.
At a cursory look, the development of a new strategic submarine by China appear to be of marginal impact on India as Sanya base is far away from Indian shores and as such ground-based missiles in China could be deployed in the event of skirmishes between the two rising countries in Asia. Besides, the avowed aim in developing the new Jin SSBN is not to target India but the United States, in the Chinese quest to become a great power in the world.
The Indian Navy continues to monitor the situation very closely with all stakeholders and remains committed to ensuring the safety of merchant shipping in the region, it said in a statement.
'Having India as a credible deterrent vis-a-vis Chinese ambitions in the Indian Ocean and South Asian region is a desirable short-term outcome.'
Indian policymakers must realise that in buying small quantities of equipment, it becomes hard to start manufacturing them in India, explains Ajai Shukla.
While Narendra Modi spent fewer days abroad than his predecessor -- 275 days versus Dr Singh's 306 - he has travelled more widely than any other Indian PM.
There have been growing global concerns over China's sweeping claims of sovereignty over all of the South China Sea, a huge source of hydrocarbons.
To threaten China and Pakistan, and then to sharply cut back on military funding, bespeaks a remarkable trust in Beijing and Islamabad that is not borne out by anything they say or do, notes Ajai Shukla.
The row erupted on a day President Dr Mohamed Muizzu embarked on a week-long visit to China.
TROPEX-23 this year witnessed the participation of approximately 70 Indian Navy ships, six submarines and over 75 aircraft.
The Indian government sources said Muizzu, in the meeting, brought up the issue of Indian military personnel present in the Maldives for operating aircraft for medical evacuation and to counter drug trafficking.
'The United States should not, by this logic, expect India to create military distractions along the Line of Actual Control, hold up Chinese shipping in the Indian Ocean, or even openly provide intelligence or basing for US forces transiting the region.'
INS Sunayna, the second of the Naval Offshore Patrol Vessel class of ship, was commissioned in Kochi on Tuesday by Vice Admiral Satish Soni, Flag Officer Commanding in Chief of the Southern Naval Command.
The status of the current submarine force level is alarming and we need to address the threat perceptions expeditiously. Critical decisions pertaining to national security cannot be delayed any further due to the rapidly changing maritime threat perceptions and growing strategic importance of the Indian Ocean region, asserts Commodore Venugopal Menon (retd).
In an interview with France24, Wickremesinghe said, "We are a neutral country, but we also emphasise the fact that we cannot allow Sri Lanka to be used as a base for any threats against India."
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has met United States Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin and held a productive conversation with him on deepening bilateral defence cooperation, including in the co-production of defence articles, and exchanged perspectives on a variety of security issues.
The Sri Lankan foreign minister further added that he is "not surprised" by his comments as Trudeau comes out with "outrageous and substantiated allegations."
The El Nino impact on the Indian monsoon typically manifests by way of extended break in rainfall.
Rulers in New Delhi and their political aides in sensitive states like Tamil Nadu have to be doubly careful not to provoke a situation whose consequences may be much more than visible now to the naked eye, notes N Sathiya Moorthy.
In all likelihood, the next conventional Chinese attack on India would be preceded by a massive cyber attack designed to cripple Indian networks and interfere with our disaster-relief programmes.
The sources said the talks are focused on sorting out certain issues relating to cost component, weapons package and technology sharing.
Expressing concern over the Russia-Ukraine conflict, India and Australia have underlined the need for an immediate cessation of hostilities and stressed that the contemporary global order has been built on UN Charter, international law and respect for States' sovereignty and territorial integrity.
The papers presented by Indian Police Service officers at the just concluded conference of director generals of police (DGPs) and inspector generals of police (IGPs) submit that by providing huge amounts of money in the name of loans for developmental works in Southeast and South Asia, China wants to reduce India's influence in the Indian Ocean region and force resolution of bilateral issues on Beijing's terms.
India is also likely to sign a deal to buy MQ-9B Predator armed drones from US manufacturer General Atomics.
Foreign policy is always a work in progress and ups and downs are built into foreign policy process. What is permanent is national interest. Hopefully, this year, which will also witness general elections in the country, will also clear clouds in the foreign policy horizon, observes Rup Narayan Das.
The Indian Navy has a big role to play in support of our strategic objectives in the Indian Ocean. The increasing Chinese presence in the Indian Ocean is a matter of concern and need to be factored. Hence, the requirement of an Aircraft Carrier is a foregone conclusion, asserts Commodore Venugopal Menon (retd).
'The food security along the coastal region will be severely affected.'
In the first military stand-off between the two Asian giants since 1986, an Indian submarine and two Chinese warships came close to a confrontation in the Bab Al-Mandab Strait, but the situation was resolved when the submarine left the site, the South China Morning Post reported on Wednesday.Though both the Indian and the Chinese government refused to comment on the matter, the report claimed that on January 15, the two warships were followed by the submarine.
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