Dr Sidharth Kaushal

Within GUGI's ranks, Kaushal said, the organization has hydronauts—specialized personnel who pass "punishing" entrance criteria to steer submersibles at extreme depths. These hydronauts are pulled from Russia's 29th Separate Submarine Division, based at the submarine hub of Gadzhiyevo in the northwestern Murmansk region and close to the Northern Fleet headquarters.

The outbreak of fresh violence in the Middle East has used up interceptor missiles of many types, but mainly those fired by the American Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) systems, which intercept ballistic missiles, and missiles fired from ships, said Sidharth Kaushal, a research fellow with the British think tank the Royal United Services Institute.

Much depends on factors like whether [Iran] can lay mines before the US can bomb stockpiles and how survivable their coastal anti-ship missile batteries are.”