Defence Weekly Current Affairs Quiz: 26 October – 1 November 2026

The thirteenth edition of the ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting-Plus is being held at Cebu in the Philippines, which also holds the chair of the forum for the current year, and the Indian delegation to it is being led by Raksha Mantri Shri Rajnath Singh.

The seminar carries exactly this theme, and the phrase itself captures the idea behind the whole exercise, namely that equipment already held by the Army should be reworked into advanced and future-ready combat systems rather than simply replaced.

These three vessels sailed as the First Training Squadron on this deployment and entered Colombo harbour, where the Sri Lanka Navy welcomed them with a ceremonial reception and a naval band.

These three ships form the First Training Squadron, shortened to 1TS, which carries sea trainees of the Indian Navy and sailed from Colombo on 29 October 2026 at the end of its port call.

He took over as the 29th Chief of the Air Staff of the Indian Air Force on 1 November 2026, marking the start of his tenure with a wreath-laying at the National War Memorial and a ceremonial Guard of Honour at Air Force Station New Delhi.

He took over the Eastern Air Command of the Indian Air Force as its Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief, moving from the appointment of Senior Air Staff Officer at the headquarters of South Western Air Command.

The Defence Acquisition Council that met on 26 October 2026 was chaired by Raksha Mantri Shri Rajnath Singh, and it accorded Acceptance of Necessity to capital acquisition proposals of the three Services at an estimated cost of about Rs 2,12,000 crore.

SWAVLAMBAN is the Naval Innovation and Indigenisation Seminar, and the Indian Navy organises it in collaboration with the Defence Innovation Organisation and the Society of Indian Defence Manufacturers.

Civitavecchia is an Italian port, and the Indian Naval Ship Trishul arrived there in the course of its ongoing operational deployment to the Mediterranean Sea.

Garuda Shakti is the joint special forces exercise of India and Indonesia, and its eleventh edition commenced at Banyuwangi in Indonesia, with the Indian side represented by the Parachute Regiment (Special Forces) and the host side by the Indonesian Special Forces.

SIMBEX is short for Singapore-India Maritime Bilateral Exercise, and it is conducted between the Indian Navy and the Republic of Singapore Navy.

Yard 1283, named Srishti, was launched there on 27 October 2026 in the presence of the Secretary (Defence Finance) and senior officers of the Indian Navy and the Ministry of Defence.

Its two satellites docked for the first time on 16 January 2025, then repeated the manoeuvre with full autonomy from an inter-satellite distance of 15 m on 20 April 2025, and the following day power was transferred between the docked spacecraft.

Union Minister of Ports, Shipping and Waterways Sarbananda Sonowal met HD Hyundai Chairman Chung Ki-sun in Seoul and discussed the next steps for the greenfield shipyard proposed there.

The Defence Minister used the occasion for two bilateral meetings, one with the American Secretary of War and the other with the Japanese Minister of Defense.

The ship that entered Busan Naval Harbour in the Republic of Korea for the India-Republic of Korea Navy bilateral exercise is INS Sahyadri, a guided missile stealth frigate that was designed and built in India.

The thirteenth edition of the ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting-Plus was hosted at Cebu in the Philippines, and Raksha Mantri Rajnath Singh addressed it there on 29 October 2026, speaking on collective regional security, counter-terrorism and maritime cooperation.

It coordinates the Special Campaign for Disposal of Pending Matters, and the sixth edition of that campaign has now been taken up by the Defence Research and Development Organisation across its headquarters, laboratories and establishments.

Civitavecchia is an Italian port, and INS Trishul finished its call there on 28 October 2026 as part of a continuing operational deployment in the Mediterranean Sea.

The Minister of State for Defence described these as the four pillars of the event while inaugurating it at the Manekshaw Centre in New Delhi.

The conclave was held at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi from 27 to 29 October 2026 and was inaugurated by the Prime Minister.

The Ministry of Defence announced that this officer, decorated with the Ati Vishisht Seva Medal and the Vayu Sena Medal, takes over as Vice Chief of the Air Staff, the second-ranking appointment in the Indian Air Force.

The frigate arrived there on 30 October 2026 while on an operational deployment to the Southern Indian Ocean Region, and the call is intended to strengthen naval cooperation through professional interactions, joint activities and cultural exchanges with the Mauritius Coast Guard.

The workshop on Government and Industry Synergy for Geospatial Transformation, held in New Delhi on the theme of co-creating the geospatial economy for Viksit Bharat 2047, was organised by the Survey of India under that department.

The mission in the news was the successful flight of GSLV-F18, which carried the NVS-03 navigation satellite, and the Prime Minister congratulated the scientists and engineers of ISRO on it.

Speaking after flagging off the Run for Unity in New Delhi on Rashtriya Ekta Diwas, the Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation, Amit Shah, said a target has been set to free the country from drugs completely by that date, and that the creation of a drug-free India is…

He took charge as the 29th Chief of the Air Staff of the Indian Air Force on 31 October 2026, moving up from the post of Vice Chief of the Air Staff.

BIMSTEC is the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation, and its first maritime security exercise is aimed at security, stability and prosperity in that bay.

The navigation satellite NVS-03 rode to orbit on the GSLV-F18 vehicle, which lifted off from Sriharikota on 30 October 2026 at 23:51 hours, and the rocket placed the spacecraft in a Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit as intended.

Indian Naval Ship Trishul is the vessel that arrived at Souda Bay in Greece on 31 October 2026, in the course of a deployment that was already under way in the Mediterranean Sea.