All the more inspiring because you have done it as a democratic d country you have done it as a peaceful country you have done it as a tolerant country and you have done it as a great free country was a had there is all the difference in the world between a nation that seeks power through coercion intimidation and aggression and a nation that rises by setting its people free and unleashing them to chase their dreams and that is india. It was a hit this is why india is accomplishment over the last 70 years is completely unraveled no matter where you go it is your faith in the strength of a free society your confidence in your own people your trust in your own citizens and your respect for the dignity of every person that makes the United States and india such a natural beautiful enduring friendship. To go ahead with it while our nations have many differences they are both defined and propelled by a fundamental truth the truth that all of us are blessed with divine light and every person
And i appreciate very much the time we spent together last week. And general stephen lyons, so i appreciate you two, the years of service that you have donated and given to your country. As stated many times before, the Armed Services committees top priority is to ensure the effective implementation of the National Defense strategy. We have that. Yeah. We have it pretty much surprised me, senator, how we have really stuck with the from the very beginning. With that from the very beginning. It means that we must ensure that in this era of great power and competition with russia and china, that our military services are resourcing commands to address the challenge of strategic competition. This is especially true of our two combatant commands that are here today, ucom is focused on deterring vladimir putin, who has repeatedly shown his willingness to use force to achieve his political objectives, and then there is transcom, focused on fullspectrum mobility operations. Both of which face
Political level, as a result of recent documents that were approved at the political level, we are seeing greater cohesion. For the first time in over six decades, we at nato approved the first nato military strategy. It is a document that is classified, nato secret, that codifies the threat and codifies the activity we need to embrace to more comprehensively defend all 29 nations agreeing to the nato military strategy. I think that is a reflection at the political level, the military level, of improving cohesion. We talked about the shipbuilding program, can you give us a quick summary of where we are at and where we have to go . Gen. Lyons yes, senator. On toow, we depend carry 90 of our Cargo Capacity in a wartime scenario. Our readiness of the fleet is below where we needed to be. It is rapidly reaching the end of useful life. We are working closely with the nato the navy. I anticipate we will purchase two in 2021 working closely with the navy. My view is we should have the first v
We start with efforts to get desperately needed aid into gaza, lets ta ke lets take you to live pictures in larnaca with a Spanish Charity ship is leaving the port carrying some 200 tonnes of food to gaza along what is going to become a new Maritime Aid Corridor that was announced by the eu. This vessel is being operated by world central kitchen, and it has been in larnaca for the last three weeks. It is towing a barge loaded with items which have been provided by world central kitchen. It is being organised by open arms, you can see the vessel has 0pen organised by open arms, you can see the vessel has open arms written on it. The open arms people say that on that barge being told our 200 tonnes of basic foodstuffs, including things like rice and flour and cans of tuna. The ship will take around two or three days to reach as i but we do not know where it will dock in gaza because there are no ports, so anything which has been set up will have to be temporary. It is an under closed loc
The vessel, operated by the open arms charity, has been repositioning itself in the harbour in larnaca while another smaller boat towed a Barge Carrying Aid Supplies out onto the waters. Believe we are showing you the live pictures right now of that ship. We are going to keep it up throughout the programme as we discussed gaza as it prepares to set sail. Over the last two days, its been loaded with around 200 tonnes of food and medical supplies. The aid will be overseen by the World Central Kitchen organisation. But without a working port, its not clear yet where the ship will actually dock or how its cargo will be distributed inside gaza. World central kitchen is founded by the celebrity american chefjose andress. The us military has confirmed that one of its ships is currently sailing to the middle east, carrying equipment to build a temporary pier off the coast of gaza. The support vessel, the general frank s bessonjunior, left virginia on saturday. Meanwhile, talks involving mediat