CDS Current Affairs Quiz: September 2026

The Ministry of Defence stated that the keel laying ceremony of the first ship of the Indian Navy's Next Generation Missile Vessel project was held at Cochin Shipyard Limited in Kochi on 18 September 2026, with Vice Admiral Sanjay Sadhu, Controller of Warship Production and Acquisition, as the Chief Guest.

According to the Ministry of Defence, the Combined Operational Review and Evaluation Programme 2026 was organised by Headquarters Integrated Defence Staff and conducted by CENJOWS, concluding at the Manekshaw Centre in New Delhi.

At the Bengaluru ceremony the Air Force received five aircraft in total, and the split is what the question turns on: two Tejas twin-seat trainers at Final Operational Clearance standard, plus three HTT 40 basic trainers.

SLINEX is the bilateral maritime exercise between the navies of India and Sri Lanka, and the Ministry of Defence has described SLINEX-26 as its 13th edition, held at Visakhapatnam from 17 to 21 September 2026.

The Ministry of Defence says the Suryakiran Aerobatic Team flies nine distinctive red-and-white Hawk Mk132 aircraft, licence-manufactured in India by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL).

The Ministry of Defence stated that the bilateral air exercise between the Indian Air Force and the Japan Air Self Defense Force concluded at Air Force Station Jodhpur, and it was also at Jodhpur that the two air chiefs came for Distinguished Visitor's Day and flew the indigenous Tejas.

SLINEX is the bilateral maritime exercise held between the Indian Navy and the Sri Lanka Navy, and its name itself is formed from the two countries.

The release states that INS Mysore arrived at Lumut, Malaysia, to take part in the fourth edition of the bilateral maritime exercise Samudra Laksamana between the Indian Navy and the Royal Malaysian Navy, and it adds that the ship and her crew were welcomed by Royal Malaysian Navy personnel and…

The Ministry of Defence release says that she became the first woman officer outside the medical stream in the Indian defence forces to attain the rank of Air Vice Marshal or an equivalent rank, and that on 1 September 2026 she assumed the appointment of Assistant Chief of the Air…

The 16th edition of Aero India is scheduled there from 8 to 12 February 2027, in the state of Karnataka, and is organised by the Department of Defence Production under the Ministry of Defence.

The three-day exercise was held under the aegis of the Colombo Security Conclave and concluded at this command, with the opening address delivered by Rear Admiral Manoj Jha, Chief Staff Officer (Operations) of the same command.

The release states plainly that he put out the RAKSHA document on defence diplomacy in New Delhi, and that the framework sets down India's strategic roadmap and vision for defence partnerships across the world for the next 10 years.

The Ministry of Defence release describes INS Sudarshini in exactly these words and records that she set sail from Livorno in Italy after completing a successful port call.

The Vice Chief of the Air Staff, Air Marshal Ashutosh Dixit, opened the first edition of Dronathon there, and the same range hosted the live demonstration of the indigenous traffic management system Vayu UTtaM on the opening day.

Exercise Samudra Laksamana is conducted between the Indian Navy and the Royal Malaysian Navy, and its fourth edition was held at Lumut in Malaysia from 9 to 12 September 2026 with INS Mysore taking part as part of an operational deployment.

The release on the opening ceremony states plainly that the contingents addressed by the two commanders were made up of that number of troops from each army, so the Indian side and the American side are equally represented.

The phrase captures the purpose of the gathering, which was to turn conversation between the laboratories and private manufacturers into concrete development work.

The backgrounder states that the Vibrant Villages Programme is being carried out through two phases whose outlays together come to that figure, and that the two phases between them reach more than 2,616 villages along the international land border.

The Ministry of Defence said the Sarang Helicopter Display Team of the Indian Air Force had reached Egypt to take part in the second edition of the El Alamein International Airshow, which is held at El Alamein International Airport from 8 to 10 September 2026.

The Defence Acquisition Council, meeting under the chairmanship of the Raksha Mantri, gave Acceptance of Necessity to acquisition proposals of the three Services at an estimated cost of about that amount.

The three-day conference opened in the national capital, and on the first day the Raksha Rajya Mantri interacted with the Director General of the Indian Coast Guard and the assembled commanders on national and maritime security.

Veer Guardian-2026 is a bilateral air exercise of the Indian Air Force and the Japan Air Self Defence Force, and it is being held at Air Force Station Jodhpur from 9 September 2026 to 22 September 2026.

The first meeting of the Joint Defence Committee between India and Morocco took place in the Indian capital on 8 September 2026, and the Moroccan delegation was in India from 7 to 10 September 2026 for the purpose.

In that meeting the President assured India that Sri Lankan territory would never be used for activities hostile to Indian security interests, and he thanked India for the relief provided under Operation Sagar Bandhu.

The Ministry of Defence announcement names the edition explicitly, and it is the single most asked detail about a recurring exercise, because the number records how far back the series goes and distinguishes this year's round from every earlier one.

The fourth edition of the International Strategic Engagement Programme has 38 delegates in all, and of these 25 are international delegates who have come from 22 countries, among them Sri Lanka, Seychelles, Mongolia, Nepal, Mauritius, Maldives, Oman, Guyana, Chile, Argentina, the Philippines, Thailand, Armenia, Kyrgyzstan, Qatar, Myanmar, Uzbekistan and Brazil.

Shaunak is the Indian Coast Guard ship that left Chennai on 25 September 2026 for Perth in Australia as India's contribution to the QUAD-at-Sea Ship Observer Mission, carrying six Sea Riders drawn from the four QUAD countries.

Surgeons of the Armed Forces Medical Services completed 220 sight-restoring surgeries during the two-day mega eye surgical camp at Tangdhar in Kupwara district of Jammu and Kashmir, held on 24 and 25 September 2026 under Operation Drishti.

Supplies went to more than 100 countries, which is why the Defence Minister described the country as moving from being an importer to a trusted global supplier.

This is the declared theme of the second edition of the multilateral air exercise, which the Indian Air Force is conducting from 26 September to 12 October 2026 at Air Force Station Jodhpur.

INS Sahyadri is a frontline stealth frigate and INS Kulish is a missile corvette, and the two sailed to Subic Bay in the Philippines for the Experts Working Group activity on maritime security, whose closing ceremony was held on 25 September 2026.

KAZIND takes its name from the two partners, Kazakhstan and India, and the ninth edition of the exercise is being held at Oskemen in Kazakhstan from 28 September to 11 October 2026.

The correct answer is Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital, where the two sides met to discuss military training, exercises, medical cooperation, peacekeeping and defence industries.

The second edition of the Indian Navy's Commanders' Conference for the year is being held there over three days, from 29 September to 1 October 2026.

The second meeting of the bilateral Joint Working Group between India and Fiji was held in the Indian capital on 28 September 2026, where the two sides went through military training and capacity building, service-to-service engagement, maritime security, cyber training and collaboration in the defence industry.

Addressing the Naval Commanders' Conference, the Defence Minister described 2026 as a historic year for the Navy because the induction or commissioning of eighteen warships is planned, which would be the largest addition of ships in a single year in the force's history.

These three shooters made up the Indian side that finished second in the women's Trap team competition at the Asian Games, and the Prime Minister congratulated them by name on the silver, praising their precision, focus and teamwork.

The Joint Committee Meeting between India and the Republic of Korea on defence industries and logistics cooperation reached its tenth edition at the New Delhi round, where the two sides reviewed existing defence ties and discussed ways to widen cooperation in defence production and logistics.

The Ministry of Defence stated that the second edition of the conference commenced there, bringing together the senior leadership of the Indian Navy, including Operational and Area Commanders, for deliberations on operational preparedness, maritime security and future capability development.

The encounter took place at Gurwatkalan, which falls in the area of the Khansahib police station in Budgam district.

The second edition of the ASEAN-India Maritime Exercise began at Subic Bay on 28 September 2026, and the opening ceremony there was graced by Harsh Kumar Jain, India's Ambassador to the Philippines, as Guest of Honour.

The ceremony marking the culmination of a year-long commemoration of the Military Nursing Service was held there, and Raksha Rajya Mantri Sanjay Seth attended it.

The correct answer is 364, the total across the two mega camps of the valley.

The Ministry of Defence release states that the contract for construction of the NGMVs was concluded with Cochin Shipyard Limited in March 2023.

The release states that the five-day programme brought together senior officers from the three Services along with officials from the Ministry of Defence, the Ministry of External Affairs and the Ministry of Home Affairs, for deliberations on contemporary and emerging national security challenges.

The ceremony had two recipients, and separating them is the whole point of the question. Military trainers, the Tejas twin-seaters and the HTT 40s, went to the Indian Air Force.

The Ministry of Defence lists two Indian ships in SLINEX-26: INS Kavaratti, an indigenous Anti-Submarine Warfare Corvette, and INS Jyoti, the Fleet Tanker.

According to the Ministry of Defence, SKAT was established in 1996 and holds the distinction of being the only nine-aircraft aerobatic team in Asia.

Veer Guardian is the bilateral air exercise between the Indian Air Force and the Japan Air Self Defense Force, and the release describes the drill as strengthening the strategic partnership between the two air forces of India and Japan.

The Ministry of Defence described the exercise held from 17 to 21 September 2026 as the 13th edition of the India-Sri Lanka bilateral maritime exercise, and it concluded at Visakhapatnam.