Science and Technology Quiz: Awareness in Defence |15 Mar, 2021

The plan for the Advanced Technology Vessel (ATV) until the late 1980s was to build an SSN – a fast-moving deep-diving nuclear-powered attack submarine, which would hunt surface ships.

· Around the time India leased a Charlie-I class nuclear-powered attack submarine from the Soviet Union, which happened in 1988, planning veered towards building a submarine carrying ballistic missiles.

· The hull design was lengthened and the SSN quietly transformed into an SSBN. The Project code named Advanced Technology Vessel (ATV) Project took 25 years for completion.

· It spawned a new era in the field of cooperation between DRDO, BARC, Navy, PSUs and private industry in which these organizations synergized their efforts to achieve a significant technological and strategic milestone.

· The Arihant class(nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines)- INS Arihant (S73), INS Aridhaman (S74) are built for the Indian Navy by Navy Shipbuilding Centre, Visakhapatnam.

· The miniaturised naval version of the reactor was designed and built by the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) at the Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research (IGCAR) in Kalpakkam.

Source: The Hindu & Agrahari

AWACS is distinctive radar domes mounted on the fuselage of the aircraft, which provide the Alliance with air surveillance, command and control, battle space management and communications.

PHALCON AWACS is developed by Israel and it is used by Indian Air Force.

Source: Indian Express

Prithvi-II missile is a surface-to-surface tactical missile with a strike range of 350 km.

· It is developed by DRDO under Integrated Guided Missile Development Program (IGMDP).

· It is capable of carrying 500 to 1,000 kg of warheads, both conventional as well as nuclear.

· The state-of-the-art missile is powered by liquid propulsion twin engines.

· It uses an advanced inertial guidance system with maneuvering orbit to hit its target.

· It was inducted into armour of the defence forces in 2003.

Source: ForumIAS factly

The Indian Army successfully tested two newly acquired Spike long-range (LR) anti-tank guided missiles at the Infantry School at Mhow, Madhya Pradesh.

· The Army has recently procured a small batch of 12 launchers and 250 missiles from Israel using its new financial powers to make emergency procurements sanctioned by the Defence Ministry.

· “Spike-LR is a fourth-generation missile, which can engage a target with precision at ranges up to 4 km.

· In addition to the fire-and-forget capability, the missile has the ability to fire, observe and update, providing substantial flexibility to the firer to pinpoint the impact point, as also the ability to switch to a different target mid-flight,” the manufacturer, Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, of Israel.

Source: ForumIAS factly

Losharik is a highly advanced nuclear-powered submarine of Russia.

· Recently a fire accident was reported on the submarine within the Russian territorial waters.

· It is a deep-diving special mission’s ship, operated by the Russian Navy.

· It is capable of withstanding high pressures at great depths, enabling it to survey the ocean floor.

Source: ForumIAS factly

Project 15B is a class of stealth guided missile destroyers.

· Warships built under Project 15Bravo, with a length of 163 metres and 17.4 metres at the beam and a displacement of 7.300 tonnes, are propelled by four gas turbines to achieve speeds in excess of 30 knots.

· Ships under this project can carry and operate two multiple role helicopters.

· Enhanced stealth features have been achieved through the shaping of hull and use of radar transparent deck fittings which make these ships difficult to detect.

Source: The Hindu & Agrahari

NIRBHAY, the long-range, sub-sonic, cruise missile was successfully tested today with a sharper ‘terrain hugging capability’.

· The NIRBHAY missile has a range of 700 km to 1,000 km.

· After its launch in typical missile style, it can be controlled in aircraft mode.

· Travelling at sub-sonic speeds of different Mach (speed of sound), the hit capacity is enhanced by control and by homing in on targets at different altitudes.

Source: Agrahari

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) initiated ‘Project NETRA’ – an early warning system in space to detect debris and other hazards to Indian satellites.

· The space agency says our SSA (space situational awareness) will first be for low-earth orbits or LEO which have remote-sensing spacecraft.

· Under NETRA, or Network for space object Tracking and Analysis, the ISRO plans to put up many observational facilities: connected radars, telescopes; data processing units and a control centre.

· They can, among others, spot, track and catalogue objects as small as 10 cm, up to a range of 3,400 km and equal to a space orbit of around 2,000 km.

Source: ForumIAS factly

INS Vikrant – Initially laid down as HMS Hercules for the British Navy, but construction was put on hold. India purchased the incomplete carrier in 1957, and construction was completed in 1961 and inducted as first aircraft carrier of India.

· It was decommissioned in 1997, scrapped in 2014.

· INS Vikrant (2013) – First domestically built aircraft carrier expected to join service by 2020.

· INS Viraat – A Centaur-class aircraft carrier commissioned in 1959 as the British Navy’s HMS Hermes and later sold to India in 1987 and it was decommissioned in 2017.

· INS Vikramaditya – Originally built as Baku for Soviet Navy and it was entered into Indian Navy in 2013.

Source: The Hindu & ForumIAS factly

Transition to Triumph book is the history of the Indian navy covers the period from 1965 to 1975.

· Indian Naval history (Transition to Triumph) also records that “by themselves the ships of the Eastern Fleet were too few and too slow to enforce contraband control and help would be needed from Vikrant’s aircraft.

· But the extraordinary extent to which Vikrant’s aircraft actually succeeded in assisting ships in contraband control and apprehending merchant ships, over and above their air strikes against East Pakistan, came to be fully realised only after the war.”

Source: The Hindu