Defence Current Affairs Quiz: 14 October 2026

The maiden ASEAN-India Defence Think Tank Forum was convened at the Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses in New Delhi, where Raksha Mantri Rajnath Singh addressed delegates from India and all eleven ASEAN member states across a two-day programme.

The ceremony at which the Indian Navy gave up command of Combined Task Force 154 was held at Manama in Bahrain on 14 October 2026, and it closed the first spell in which India headed a task force of the Combined Maritime Forces.

That is the support the Technology Development Board has agreed to extend to ideaForge Technology Limited under the Research Development and Innovation Fund, and it comes in the form of debt financing.

At the forum the Defence Minister placed MAHASAGAR alongside SAGAR, which expands to Security and Growth for All in the Region, and said both, together with the Act East policy, argue for open and multipolar cooperation channelled through ASEAN-led mechanisms that sit at the centre of India’s Indo-Pacific vision.

The Combined Maritime Forces is a partnership of 47 nations, and CTF 154 is the one task force within it that is given over wholly to training, running professional courses and capacity building so that member navies can work with one another at sea.

YETI is designed to lift payloads of up to 200 kg, and by a neat coincidence the same figure is its targeted range in kilometres, which makes the pair easy to remember together.

Speaking at the forum, the Raksha Mantri noted that this year has been designated the ASEAN-India Year of Maritime Cooperation and treated it as a chance to convert shared interest into practical steps: better sharing of maritime information, closer work between navies and coast guards, and the ability to respond…

India's association with the Combined Maritime Forces came in two steps: it first joined as an Associate Partner in 2022 and then took up full membership in 2023.

YETI is designed for an operating altitude of up to 6,500 metres above mean sea level, which is what allows it to be considered for high-altitude work in the mountains, and its weather-resistant build is also meant for deserts and marine conditions.

The Raksha Mantri made the announcement there on 31 October 2025, on the sidelines of the 12th ADMM-Plus, and the forum held in New Delhi is the follow-through on that commitment.

Across the Indian Navy's tenure, the activities of CTF 154 added up to more than 7,800 hours of training, with personnel from 39 countries taking part.

The TDB works under the Department of Science and Technology and it is the body that signed the agreement with ideaForge Technology Limited of Mumbai for support under the Research Development and Innovation Fund.