Defence 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 Surya. FSS-1, the first of the Fleet Support Ships designed and built by Hindustan Shipyard Limited, was named Surya and launched by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh at the Visakhapatnam yard on 6 October 2026. Traditional launch honours were performed by Laila Swaminathan, President of the Navy Wives Wellness Association, and the vessel entered the waters of the Bay of Bengal. Option A is wrong, though it is a tempting distractor: Jala Usha was the first ship built in independent India and was launched at Visakhapatnam in 1948, a point the minister recalled in his speech, but it is not the new support ship. Options C and D are wrong because no vessel of those names features in this launch; they are plausible-sounding naval names offered as traps. Candidates should tie the name Surya to FSS-1 and keep Jala Usha separately in memory as the 1948 milestone.

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 Nyoma (Mudh DZ), described as one of the highest-altitude drop zones. The jump was executed at 16,000 feet above mean sea level, the canopy was deployed at 15,500 feet and the landing was made at the drop zone itself, which lies at 13,700 feet. The exercise proved the efficacy and tactical employability of the parachute over extremely high-altitude terrain. Option A is wrong: Agra is where the designing laboratory sits, not where this jump was made. Option C is wrong because the desert range is not the site named for this trial, and the point of the jump was high elevation rather than open desert. Option D is wrong because the coastal test range is used for missile trials, not for a high-altitude parachute jump. Candidates should remember the three altitudes of the jump along with the name of the drop zone.

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 up to 45,000 DWT. Slipway-4 at Hindustan Shipyard Limited was extended and strengthened so that the yard could take on larger hulls, and the Defence Minister inaugurated the upgraded slipway on the same day he launched Surya and laid the keel of FSS-5. Alongside it he opened a 300-tonne Goliath Crane spanning Slipways 3 and 4, designed and manufactured by L and T Geostructure with Konecranes under Make in India, fitted with programmable controls, variable frequency drives, tandem lifting, remote diagnostics and condition monitoring. Options A and B are wrong because they understate the new limit, and a yard restricted to those sizes could not undertake the larger and more complex programmes the upgrade is meant to enable. Option D is wrong because it overstates the capacity. Pair the slipway figure with the crane figure, since both are standard one-mark facts from this event.

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 16,000 feet. The jump was made from that altitude above mean sea level, after which the parachute was deployed at 15,500 feet and the landing was undertaken at the Nyoma drop zone. Option A is wrong because the exit was considerably higher than that figure. Option B is a careful distractor: that is the elevation of the landing zone itself, not the height from which the jumper exited, and the two are often confused in questions. Option D is wrong because no such exit altitude is recorded for this jump, although the system is cleared for use over a wide operational band. Static line jumps at these heights are complex and inherently risky because of the very high opening shock and rate of descent, which is why the maiden live jump counts as a milestone for the indigenous system.

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 Visakhapatnam. Hindustan Shipyard Limited stands in Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh, and it was there that Surya was launched into the Bay of Bengal, the keel of FSS-5 was laid and the upgraded Slipway-4 and the 300-tonne Goliath Crane were inaugurated. The Defence Minister argued that the city, which already hosts the Eastern Naval Command, the Naval Dockyard, the shipyard and a major port, should be developed into a large maritime industrial hub, and he recalled that independent India’s first ship, Jala Usha, was launched there in 1948. Option A is wrong because Kochi hosts a different public shipyard. Option B is wrong because Mumbai’s naval shipbuilding is carried out by another yard altogether. Option D is wrong because Kolkata’s defence shipbuilding is handled by a separate company. Candidates should also note that HSL came under the Ministry of Defence and earned Miniratna Category-I status in 2025.

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 Ordnance Parachute Factory (OPF), Kanpur. The system has been designed and developed by the Aerial Delivery Research and Development Establishment at Agra and manufactured at the Kanpur factory; it is inspected by DGAQA and certified by CEMILAC, RCMA Kanpur. Option B is wrong because the aircraft maker is not involved in producing this parachute. Option C is wrong because that undertaking makes missiles and related systems, not parachute canopies. Option D is wrong because that company works in special metals and alloys. The division of work is worth remembering as a chain: design at Agra, manufacture at Kanpur, inspection by DGAQA and certification by CEMILAC. The Defence Minister called the successful maiden live jump another big step towards Aatmanirbhar Bharat.