First Principles IAS · Current affairs
Everything filed · Internal Security › Security forces and agencies › Platforms and missiles
Printed on · firstprinciplesias.com/current-affairs
Internal Security › Security forces and agencies
हिन्दी — Read in HindiPlatforms and missiles
Weapons, missiles and the platforms that carry them, and the research bodies that build them.
Asked before
- Prelims 2026: Which of the following statements with regard to stealth technology is/are correct? 1. Stealth objects have a very small radar cross-sect…
- Prelims 2026: Consider the following statements about Mission Sudarshan Chakra of India: 1. It aims to enhance India's air defence, ballistic missile d…
- Prelims 2026: Which of the following items of defence hardware is/are manufactured in India? 1. Su-30 MKI Fighter Jets 2. T-90 MK-III Tanks 3. Akula Cl…
- Prelims 2026: The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) recently introduced a national standard to test and assess bomb disposal system. Which of the follow…
- Prelims 2025: What is the common characteristic of the chemical substances generally known as CL-20, HMX and LLM-105, which are sometimes talked about…
- Prelims 2025: With reference to India's defence, consider the following pairs : Aircraft type : Description. I. Dornier-228 : Maritime patrol aircraft…
- Prelims 2024: Consider the following aircraft: 1. Rafael 2. MiG-29 3. Tejas MK-1. How many of the above are considered fifth generation fighter aircraft?
- Prelims 2023: Consider the following statements: 1. Ballistic missiles are jet-propelled at subsonic speeds throughout their flights, while cruise miss…
Agni-4 test fired by the Strategic Forces Command
Copy link to Agni-4 test fired by the Strategic Forces CommandBriefPrelims6 Aug 2026
- Agni-4 is an indigenously developed ballistic missile of the intermediate range class, with a range of about 4,000 km, able to carry a conventional or a nuclear warhead; the intermediate range class runs from 3,000 to 5,500 km.
- On 6 August 2026 it was test fired from the Integrated Test Range at Chandipur, on the Odisha coast, under the aegis of the Strategic Forces Command, and the launch validated all operational and technical parameters.
- The Strategic Forces Command, set up in 2003 under the Nuclear Command Authority, is the tri service command that holds and would operate India's nuclear delivery systems; a user trial by the Command, rather than a developmental test by the Defence Research and Development Organisation, shows a missile in service.
- The Agni family runs from the 700 km Agni-1 to the 5,000 km plus Agni-5, which has been tested with multiple independently targetable warheads.
Exam lens: Agni-4 is a two stage, solid fuelled, surface to surface missile of about 4,000 km, asked in Prelims 2014; the Strategic Forces Command under the Nuclear Command Authority; the Integrated Test Range is at Chandipur, with the launch complex at Abdul Kalam Island.
Sources
- PIB, 6 August 2026
- The Hindu, 7 August 2026
Settled facts (dates of Acts, constitutional provisions, standing definitions) are from standard references.
MQ-9B Sea Guardian: two leased for the Navy
Copy link to MQ-9B Sea Guardian: two leased for the NavyBriefPrelims and Mains17 Aug 2026
- The MQ-9B Sea Guardian is a high altitude long endurance remotely piloted aircraft, flown by a crew on the ground, built to loiter for a day or more with radar, electro optical and signals sensors, which is what maritime domain awareness across the Indian Ocean needs.
- On 17 August 2026 the Ministry of Defence signed a contract with General Atomics Aeronautical Systems to lease two MQ-9B Sea Guardians for the Indian Navy for 30 months, at about ₹1,943 crore, to give persistent intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance cover over the Indian Ocean Region.
- The lease bridges the gap until the 31 aircraft India contracted in 2024, 15 of them Sea Guardians for the Navy, are delivered; the Navy flew two leased Sea Guardians from 2020 on the same model.
- Leasing is a route the Defence Acquisition Procedure opened in 2020 for equipment needed quickly or for a limited period, paying for use rather than ownership.
Exam lens: MQ-9B is American, from General Atomics; Sea Guardian is the maritime variant, Sky Guardian the land one; the 2024 contract for 31; leasing as a procurement category since the Defence Acquisition Procedure, 2020.
Sources
- PIB, 17 August 2026
Settled facts (dates of Acts, constitutional provisions, standing definitions) are from standard references.
The AMCA engine: Reliance and Rolls-Royce
Copy link to The AMCA engine: Reliance and Rolls-RoyceBriefPrelims and Mains15 Aug 2026
- The Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft is India's planned fifth generation stealth fighter, built around stealth, sensor fusion and advanced avionics.
- The engine is the part it cannot yet be given at home: the Kaveri engine of the 1990s never reached the thrust a fighter needs, and the first squadrons will fly on an imported engine.
- On 15 August 2026 Reliance Industries and Rolls-Royce announced plans to design, develop and manufacture an indigenous engine for the aircraft, and to explore an aerospace gas turbine complex in India as a propulsion centre.
- A fighter engine must survive temperatures that only single crystal turbine blades can take, with the metallurgy, coatings and cooling that go with them, which is the technology India has lacked and which no licence to assemble gives.
- The announcement is of intent; the test is whether the design rights and the hot section technology come to India, which is what the Kaveri programme and earlier co development talks with foreign engine makers did not secure.
Exam lens: AMCA is a twin engine fifth generation fighter being developed by the Aeronautical Development Agency; the Kaveri engine is the Gas Turbine Research Establishment's; fifth generation fighters were asked in Prelims 2024.
Sources
- The Hindu, 15 August 2026
Settled facts (dates of Acts, constitutional provisions, standing definitions) are from standard references.
Micro gas turbine engines: three more from CSIR-NAL
Copy link to Micro gas turbine engines: three more from CSIR-NALUpdatePrelims25 Aug 2026
Latest position, 25 August 2026
- The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research's National Aerospace Laboratories unveiled three indigenous micro gas turbine engines, NJ-05, NJ-50 and NJ-100, of 5, 50 and 100 kg thrust, for tactical unmanned aircraft, drone interceptors and compact missiles.
- The engines rest on advances in high speed turbomachinery and high temperature combustion; the laboratory said Indian industry, including start ups, could build them at scale.
- They fill the class below the 350 kg expendable turbojet delivered in July: engines India could not buy freely, for the small drones and interceptors that now decide battles.
Background
- Micro gas turbine engines (July): India's first indigenous expendable turbojet of the 350 kg thrust class, designed by the Gas Turbine Research Establishment and built by a private firm.
Read the earlier article: Micro gas turbine engines: the first indigenous expendable turbojet
Sources
- PIB, 25 August 2026
- PIB, 23 July 2026
SHIELD: DRDO's high power microwave test bed
Copy link to SHIELD: DRDO's high power microwave test bedBriefPrelims8 Sep 2026
- A high power microwave weapon disables electronics with a burst of radio frequency energy rather than with a projectile; the S band lies at 2 to 4 GHz.
- Before such a weapon can be built, its effects on circuits have to be measured.
- On 8 September 2026 DRDO issued a request for proposals for SHIELD, the S band High power microwave Integrated Evaluation system: a modular test and evaluation platform, including a drone mountable configuration, to study how S band microwaves affect electronic equipment, producing a field of at least 3 kV per metre in pulsed operation.
- It is a test bed, not a weapon, funded through the Technology Development Fund and open to Indian firms and startups. Its results set survivability benchmarks for Indian electronics and inform both protection and countermeasures.
Sources
- Convergence Now, 8 September 2026, “DRDO develops SHIELD to test impact of S-band high-power microwaves on electronics”
Settled facts (dates of Acts, constitutional provisions, standing definitions) are from standard references.
Drones, autonomy and the cost of defence
Copy link to Drones, autonomy and the cost of defenceLeadPrelims and Mains3 Jul 2026
- About ₹52,000 crorethe value of the Acceptances of Necessity of 3 July 2026
- 300 to 400drones Pakistan launched at 36 Indian locations in one night of Operation Sindoor, May 2025
- Tens of thousands of dollars against about four millionthe cost of an attack drone against an interceptor missile
Airborne Early Warning and Control Mk II: six A321s and a private partner
Copy link to Airborne Early Warning and Control Mk II: six A321s and a private partnerBriefPrelims and Mains22 Jul 2026
- An airborne early warning and control aircraft carries a radar aloft to see aircraft and missiles far beyond the horizon of ground radars and to direct fighters to them; its active electronically scanned array radar steers its beams electronically and tracks many targets at once.
- The Mk II is DRDO's larger system on a converted A321 airliner, after Netra on the Embraer EMB-145, which received its Final Operational Clearance in June.
- On 22 July 2026 the Centre for Air Borne Systems of DRDO signed two contracts: one with AI Engineering Services Limited to convert six A321 aircraft from airline to bare "green" configuration, and one with Adani Defence Systems and Technologies as development cum production partner for the mission systems, to be integrated on the platform that Airbus supplies.
- The Centre and the partner will flight test the aircraft with the Indian Air Force for airworthiness certification; values and delivery dates were not given.
- The contract is the first time a private firm has been made the production partner for an entire mission system of this class, a step beyond the licensed manufacture of the Positive Indigenisation Lists.
Exam lens: Netra is on the EMB-145, the Mk II on the A321; the Centre for Air Borne Systems is at Bengaluru; six aircraft; an AESA radar steers beams electronically.
Sources
- PIB, 22 July 2026
- PIB, 25 June 2026
Micro gas turbine engines: the first indigenous expendable turbojet
Copy link to Micro gas turbine engines: the first indigenous expendable turbojetBriefPrelims22 Jul 2026
- A gas turbine burns fuel in a stream of compressed air and uses the hot expanding gas to spin a turbine; every jet engine is one.
- A micro gas turbine, of 5 to 100 kg thrust, powers tactical drones and interceptors, and an expendable engine is built for one flight, as on a cruise missile or a target drone.
- On 22 July 2026 the Gas Turbine Research Establishment of the Defence Research and Development Organisation took delivery of the first indigenous expendable turbojet of the 350 kg thrust class, built and assembled by its industry partner Azad Engineering of Hyderabad.
- These are engines India could not buy freely, which is why their development matters more than their size suggests: a cheap drone or a cruise missile is only as cheap as its engine.
- The three micro engines of 5, 50 and 100 kg thrust followed from the National Aerospace Laboratories in August.
Exam lens: GTRE is DRDO's engine laboratory at Bengaluru; an expendable engine flies once; 350 kg thrust class; the micro engines of August are NJ 05, NJ 50 and NJ 100.
Sources
- PIB, 23 July 2026
- PIB, 25 August 2026
Updated, 25 Aug 2026: Micro gas turbine engines: three more from CSIR-NAL
Pinaka long range guided rocket: a 60 km minimum range test
Copy link to Pinaka long range guided rocket: a 60 km minimum range testBriefPrelims8 Jul 2026
- Pinaka is the Army's multi barrel rocket launcher, developed by DRDO's Armament Research and Development Establishment; its guided long range rocket fires from the launcher already in service, so one launcher can fire variants of different ranges.
- On 8 July 2026 DRDO tested the guided rocket at Chandipur, off Balasore in Odisha, for a user defined minimum range of 60 km, the lower end of the envelope that the Army asked for.
- A minimum range test matters because a long range rocket must also be usable against a target close in, without overshooting.
- Pinaka has been exported to Armenia, and the guided variant extends the system that was first used in Kargil in 1999.
Exam lens: Pinaka is a multi barrel rocket launcher of DRDO; the guided rocket was tested at Chandipur, Odisha; the Integrated Test Range is at Chandipur and APJ Abdul Kalam Island.
Sources
- PIB, 8 July 2026
Settled facts (dates of Acts, constitutional provisions, standing definitions) are from standard references.
Project Kusha: the long range surface to air missile's first flight
Copy link to Project Kusha: the long range surface to air missile's first flightBriefPrelims23 Jul 2026
- Project Kusha is DRDO's long range surface to air missile system, with indigenous missiles, radars and a command and control centre, in a class India has so far bought abroad, the S-400 from Russia.
- On 23 July 2026 the Defence Research and Development Organisation flight tested the Kusha missile for the first time from APJ Abdul Kalam Island off Odisha, intercepting an electronic target that simulated a fast, high altitude threat.
- The system is meant to counter fighter aircraft, missiles, unmanned aerial vehicles and large aircraft across a wide envelope of range and altitude; the Defence Minister said it would reduce reliance on imported systems of its kind.
- It is the expensive outer layer of the layered air defence that Mission Sudarshan Chakra is to tie together, with Akash and the Very Short Range Air Defence System as the cheaper inner layers.
Exam lens: Kusha is a long range surface to air missile; tested from APJ Abdul Kalam (Wheeler) Island, Odisha; DRDO with industry partners; its class is the S-400's.
Sources
- PIB, 23 July 2026
Settled facts (dates of Acts, constitutional provisions, standing definitions) are from standard references.
The Navy's new hulls: Mahendragiri, Malvan and Machilipatnam
Copy link to The Navy's new hulls: Mahendragiri, Malvan and MachilipatnamUpdatePrelims29 Jul 2026
Latest position, 29 July 2026
- INS Mahendragiri, the sixth of the seven Project 17A stealth frigates designed by the Navy's Warship Design Bureau and built at Mazagon Dock and Garden Reach with more than 75 per cent indigenous content, joined the Eastern Fleet in July.
- On 22 July INS Malvan, the second of eight Mahe class Anti Submarine Warfare Shallow Water Craft built by Cochin Shipyard and the sixth of sixteen in the class, was commissioned at Karwar, with over 80 per cent indigenous content; on 29 July Machilipatnam, the seventh of the class, was launched.
- The Mahe class hunt submarines in coastal waters too shallow and cluttered for larger ships, and carry out mine warfare and low intensity maritime operations.
Background
- The Navy's new hulls: Project 17A and the Mahe class (June): INS Dunagiri, the fifth Project 17A frigate, commissioned at Kolkata on 21 June with INS Sanshodhak and INS Agray; the six frigates so far are Nilgiri, Udaygiri, Himgiri, Taragiri, Dunagiri and Mahendragiri.
Read the earlier article: The Navy's new hulls: Project 17A and the anti submarine craft
Sources
- PIB, 22 July 2026
- PIB, 11 July 2026
- PIB, 29 July 2026
- The Hindu, 6 July 2026
Mission Sudarshan Chakra: a layered missile shield
Copy link to Mission Sudarshan Chakra: a layered missile shieldLeadPrelims and Mains10 Jun 2026
- 3the layers of protection the Mission promises
- 10 and 11 June 2026the three flight tests of the ballistic missile defence and the naval anti ship missile
- 5,500 kmthe range above which a ballistic missile is called intercontinental
Fibre optic drones: the drone jamming cannot reach
Copy link to Fibre optic drones: the drone jamming cannot reachBriefPrelims and Mains30 Jun 2026
- A fibre optic drone unspools a hair thin cable as it flies, and the cable carries all its commands and video, so it emits no radio signal.
- It therefore resists jamming and spoofing, the main defence against ordinary drones; its weaknesses are wind, rain, range limited by the spool, and snapped cables.
- The wars in Ukraine, in Lebanon and in the West Asia theatre have made mass produced commercial drones central to fighting, and fibre optic drones are now in the hands of armies and of non state groups such as Hezbollah.
| Type | How it works |
|---|---|
| First person view (FPV) strike | Flown through a live camera feed to the operator's goggles into the target, and lost with it |
| Bomber | Drops munitions and returns |
| Loitering munition | Waits over an area before striking |
| Fibre optic | Takes commands and sends video through a cable spooled out in flight, emitting no radio signal |
Exam lens: why radio jamming does not stop a fibre optic drone; FPV drones; loitering munitions.
Sources
- The Hindu, 16 June 2026
- The Indian Express, 20 June 2026
Netra AEW&C: final clearance, and the Mk II programme
Copy link to Netra AEW&C: final clearance, and the Mk II programmeBriefPrelims and Mains25 Jun 2026
- An airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) aircraft carries a radar that watches the air and sea far beyond the horizon and directs fighters, a flying command post.
- On 25 June 2026 DRDO handed the Indian Air Force the Final Operational Clearance of Netra, India's first indigenous AEW&C system, nine years after its Initial Operational Clearance in 2017; the Air Force cited its use at Balakot and in Operation Sindoor.
- Netra was developed by DRDO's Centre for Air Borne Systems, Bengaluru, on the Embraer EMB-145, with an active electronically scanned array radar, which steers its beams electronically and tracks many targets at once.
- The next step is the Mk II, built on converted A321 airliners with radar and mission systems developed in India.
Exam lens: AEW&C; Netra on the EMB-145, FOC 25 June 2026; AESA radar; the Centre for Air Borne Systems; the Mk II on the A321.
Sources
- PIB, 25 June 2026
- The Hindu, 26 June 2026
The Navy's new hulls: Project 17A and the anti submarine craft
Copy link to The Navy's new hulls: Project 17A and the anti submarine craftBriefPrelims21 Jun 2026
- Project 17A is the Navy's class of seven Nilgiri class stealth frigates, designed by its Warship Design Bureau and built at Mazagon Dock and Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers (GRSE) with more than 75 per cent indigenous content.
On 21 June 2026, World Hydrography Day, three GRSE built ships were commissioned together in Kolkata:
- INS Dunagiri, the fifth Project 17A frigate and the second built at GRSE.
- INS Sanshodhak, the fourth Survey Vessel (Large), for hydrographic and oceanographic surveys, which can also serve as a hospital ship.
- INS Agray, the fifth GRSE built Anti Submarine Warfare Shallow Water Craft (the Arnala class), powered by waterjets for hunting submarines and mines in waters too shallow for larger ships.
- The Mahe class built at Cochin Shipyard is the other line of these shallow water craft.
Exam lens: Project 17A, seven Nilgiri class frigates, over 75 per cent indigenous; the Warship Design Bureau; the Survey Vessel (Large); what a shallow water anti submarine craft is for.
Sources
- PIB, 21 June 2026, “Prime Minister commissions INS Dunagiri, INS Sanshodhak and INS Agray in Kolkata”
- The Indian Express, 21 June 2026
Settled facts (dates of Acts, constitutional provisions, standing definitions) are from standard references.
Updated, 29 Jul 2026: The Navy's new hulls: Mahendragiri, Malvan and Machilipatnam
Also filed elsewhere
- S-400 Triumf: the fourth squadron arrives · on Russia
Exam lens: S-400 Triumf, a surface to air missile system from Russia; five squadrons under the 2018 contract; the American sanctions law against buyers of Russian arms (CAATSA).
- SIPRI Yearbook 2026: India's warheads deployed for the first time · on Nuclear and arms control regimes
Exam lens: nine nuclear armed states; India's estimate about 190, Pakistan's about 170, China's about 620; New START expired in February 2026; SIPRI is in Stockholm.
- Space debris: tracking, dodging and the Debris Free Space Mission · on Space policy, private sector and governance
Space debris is dead satellites, spent rocket stages and fragments from break ups and collisions, left in orbit at orbital speed, so that even a small piece can destroy a working spacecraft.
- Weapons in orbit and the gaps in space law · on Space policy, private sector and governance
On 14 September 2026 the United States Air Force Secretary said that the country has "space control" weapons in Earth orbit, the first public admission of its kind by any country.