CDS Current Affairs Quiz: 6 October 2026

The correct answer is Rs 661.50 crore. The Ministry of Defence signed the contract with BrahMos Aerospace Private Limited on 6 October 2026 in New Delhi, and the value of the order for BrahMos Fire Control Systems and launchers meant for ships of the Indian Navy was fixed at Rs 661.50 crore. The signing took place in the presence of Defence Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh, and the purchase was routed through the Buy (Indian-IDDM) category with a floor of 68 per cent indigenous content. Option A is wrong because no figure of that size is attached to this order. Option C is wrong because it inflates the amount past a thousand crore, which does not match the order placed. Option D is wrong because it simply rearranges the digits of the real figure and understates the contract by a wide margin. Candidates should carry the exact amount, including the paise-level 50 lakh, since question setters often offer a rounded Rs 661 crore as a trap alongside the precise value.

The correct answer is the Aerial Delivery Research and Development Establishment (ADRDE), Agra. The release states that this laboratory is designing and developing the High-Altitude Platform, a lighter-than-air system meant to work as a long endurance stratospheric aerial surveillance platform. Option B is wrong because the electronics laboratory at Hyderabad is not named as the developer of this platform. Option C is wrong because the establishment at Bengaluru is not credited with the High-Altitude Platform in this trial. Option D is wrong for the same reason; no such centre is mentioned in connection with the system. Candidates should connect the laboratory with the kind of work it does: aerial delivery systems and lighter-than-air platforms, which is why the high-altitude airship project sits with it. The trial itself was carried out in coordination with the Indian Air Force, CEMILAC, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation and the Airports Authority of India.

The correct answer is delivery of its 2,000th aero-engine. The Defence Minister was present at Koraput for this handover, which came six decades after the Division was set up in 1964. Option A understates the figure; the thousandth engine is not the milestone being marked here. Option C mixes up two different counts: Koraput has indeed overhauled engines in large numbers, more than 9,000 of them, but the event of the day was a delivery and not an overhaul landmark. Option D is wrong because the announcement concerned supply to India's own Defence Forces rather than exports. Candidates should remember the pairing of two numbers for this unit: 2,000 engines delivered and over 9,000 engines overhauled. The Division's output has powered frontline fighters such as the MiG-21, MiG-27, MiG-29 and the Su-30MKI, and the Minister described the two thousand engines as two thousand contributions to the operational capability of the armed forces.

The correct answer is Buy (Indian-IDDM). The order for BrahMos Fire Control Systems and launchers was placed with BrahMos Aerospace Private Limited under this category, which is reserved for equipment that is indigenously designed, developed and manufactured. The contract carries a minimum of 68 per cent indigenous content and draws Indian industry, including micro, small and medium enterprises, into the supply chain, with employment generated over a period of three years. Option A is wrong because a global purchase would allow foreign vendors, which is the opposite of what this order does. Option B is wrong because that route involves acquiring an initial lot and then producing the rest under licence, which is not how this contract was framed. Option D is wrong because it describes a design-and-development route for industry-funded prototypes, not a procurement order of this kind. The category is the fact most often asked, so pair it in memory with the indigenous content figure.

The correct answer is 21 km. In the experimental flight the High-Altitude Platform climbed to that altitude above mean sea level, and it then remained at 20 km above mean sea level for more than 30 minutes before it was commanded to descend back to the ground. The system was recovered successfully and the flight performance data was analysed afterwards. Option A is wrong because the platform went considerably higher than that height. Option B is wrong because, although the platform passed through that level on the way up, the altitude attained in the trial was greater. Option D is wrong because the platform did not reach any such height in this flight. For the examination, keep the two altitudes apart in memory: the peak reached and the level at which the platform loitered, along with the duration of that loiter.

The correct answer is Rs 218 crore. The second Shakti engine line carries this outlay and will be able to produce up to 100 engines a year once it is fully established by 2028-29, feeding indigenous helicopters such as the Dhruv Advanced Light Helicopter and the Prachand Light Combat Helicopter. Option C, Rs 335 crore, is the separate investment being made to lift annual AL-31FP capacity from 30 to 50 engines, so it belongs to a different announcement of the same day and is a common trap. Option A is not among the figures announced. Option D does not relate to this line either. Keep the two figures distinct: Rs 218 crore for the Shakti line and Rs 335 crore for AL-31FP capacity.

The correct answer is surface-to-surface missile system. The BrahMos, fitted on board various frontline warships, is the Indian Navy’s primary surface-to-surface missile system for maritime strike operations. It travels at supersonic speed, engages targets at extended ranges with pinpoint accuracy, and can be directed at targets on land as well as at sea. Option A is wrong because a surface-to-air system is meant to shoot down aircraft and incoming missiles, a role filled by other weapons on a warship. Option C is wrong because anti-submarine rockets and torpedoes are a separate class of weapon aimed at underwater targets, and BrahMos is not described in that role. Option D is wrong because an air-to-air missile is fired from one aircraft at another, which has nothing to do with a ship-mounted launcher. The fire control systems and launchers bought for Rs 661.50 crore are precisely the equipment that lets a warship employ this strike missile.

The correct answer is that it is a lighter-than-air stratospheric surveillance platform. The release describes the High-Altitude Platform as a lighter-than-air system being developed as a long endurance stratospheric aerial surveillance platform, and the Defence Minister spoke of the trial as a milestone towards realising a long endurance stratospheric airship. Option A is wrong because the platform is not a missile of any kind; it carried instrumentation such as an inertial measurement unit, a Global Positioning System receiver, onboard cameras and an altitude control mechanism. Option C is wrong because the platform is neither submarine-launched nor a small drone; it climbed into the stratosphere and was recovered after a commanded descent. Option D is wrong because it does not launch satellites. Remember that the flight data reached the Ground Control Station in real time throughout the flight.

The correct answer is the Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA) programme. The Defence Minister said aerospace self-reliance must extend to an indigenous aero-engine capability, especially for the AMCA, and pointed to a proposed investment of around Rs 5,000 crore, indigenisation of raw materials together with Mishra Dhatu Nigam Limited and the setting up of India's first home-built high-thrust engine testing facility. Option C, the Prachand Light Combat Helicopter, is served instead by the Shakti engine line, so it is wrong. Option D refers to the AL-31FP engines ordered for the existing Su-30MKI fleet, a separate matter. Option A is not the programme named for the high-thrust engine. The distinction between helicopter engines, fighter engines in service and the future high-thrust engine is worth holding on to.

The correct answer is Odisha. HAL's Koraput Division sits in that state, and Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi attended the delivery event. The Defence Minister spoke of Odisha's long coastline, ports, mineral resources and skilled manpower, of the Integrated Test Range at Chandipur, and of the state's approval for an aerospace and defence equipment manufacturing complex at Gajamara in Dhenkanal. Option B, Karnataka, hosts other HAL facilities and is therefore a plausible distractor, but Koraput is not there. Option C and option D are not where this Division is based. Candidates should tie Koraput to Odisha and remember Chandipur and Gajamara as the other defence-linked locations named in the state. The Minister also urged HAL to build Koraput into a wider aerospace propulsion ecosystem by mentoring MSMEs, backing start-ups and young engineers and working with universities and research institutions in the state.