Science & Technology Quiz: Defence Aircraft, Ships and Submarines

The correct answer is B, Cochin Shipyard, Kochi. The indigenous aircraft carrier, commissioned in September 2022 as INS Vikrant, was designed by the Navy's own design organisation and built at Cochin Shipyard in Kerala, which made India one of the few countries able to build a carrier. Option A, Mazagon Dock in Mumbai, builds destroyers of the Project 15 series and the Kalvari class submarines, but not carriers. Option C, Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers in Kolkata, builds frigates and anti-submarine corvettes. Option D, Hindustan Shipyard at Visakhapatnam, works on submarine refits and merchant and support vessels. Note that the name Vikrant was carried earlier by the carrier bought from Britain that served from 1961 and took part in the war of 1971, so the two ships must not be confused.

The correct answer is A, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited. Tejas is a single-engine multirole fighter designed by the Aeronautical Development Agency and manufactured by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, the public sector company that also builds the Dhruv helicopter, the Prachand light combat helicopter and the Su-30MKI under licence at Nashik. Option B, Bharat Electronics Limited, makes radars, communication sets and electronic warfare equipment, not airframes. Option C, Bharat Dynamics Limited, makes missiles and torpedoes such as the Akash and the Nag. Option D, Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders, builds warships and submarines. The Indian attempt at a fighter engine for Tejas, the Kaveri, belongs to the Gas Turbine Research Establishment of the Defence Research and Development Organisation, while the engine flown on the aircraft today is imported. Learn the trio together: the agency designs, HAL builds and the DRDO laboratories supply the systems.

The correct answer is C, the French Scorpene design. The Kalvari class are conventional diesel-electric attack submarines built at Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders in Mumbai to the Scorpene design under a transfer of technology, and the class includes INS Kalvari, Khanderi, Karanj, Vela, Vagir and Vagsheer. Option A, the Russian Kilo design, is the basis of the Sindhughosh class, whose names begin with Sindhu. Option B, the German design, is the basis of the Shishumar class built earlier with help from Germany. Option D, the Swedish Gotland design, is not used by the Indian Navy, although Sweden pioneered air-independent propulsion, the technology that lets a conventional submarine stay submerged much longer. The nuclear-powered boats are separate: the Arihant class, built under the Advanced Technology Vessel programme.

The correct answer is B, India's first indigenously built nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine. INS Arihant was built under the Advanced Technology Vessel programme and commissioned in 2016; because it carries ballistic missiles, the K-15 Sagarika among them, it completed India's nuclear triad, that is the ability to launch a nuclear weapon from land, from the air and from the sea. Option A is wrong because the first indigenous aircraft carrier is the new INS Vikrant of 2022. Option C is wrong because the Navy's first submarine was the original INS Kalvari of 1967, of Soviet Foxtrot design. Option D is wrong because India's first guided missile destroyers belong to the Rajput and later the Delhi class. A nuclear submarine that hunts other ships is an attack submarine, which is a different role from Arihant's.

The correct answer is A, Dassault Aviation of France. Rafale is a twin-engine multirole fighter made by Dassault Aviation, the same French company that made the Mirage 2000 flown by India since the 1980s, and the first Indian Rafale squadron was raised at Ambala. Option B, Boeing of the United States, supplies India the Apache attack helicopter, the Chinook heavy-lift helicopter, the C-17 Globemaster III transport and the P-8I maritime patrol aircraft. Option C, Sukhoi of Russia, designed the Su-30MKI, which Hindustan Aeronautics Limited assembles at Nashik. Option D, Saab of Sweden, makes the Gripen, which India does not operate. Keeping the country with the maker, France for Dassault, the United States for Boeing and Russia for Sukhoi and Mikoyan, answers most questions of this family, because papers ask for the country as often as for the company.

The correct answer is A, a light combat helicopter. Prachand is the Light Combat Helicopter developed and built by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, designed to operate from high-altitude bases, which makes it suited to the Siachen and Ladakh sectors where few attack helicopters can carry a useful load. Option B, a basic trainer, is the role of the HAL HTT-40, while the HJT-16 Kiran served as an intermediate jet trainer. Option C, an unmanned aerial vehicle, describes Nishant and the TAPAS or Rustom series of Indian designs. Option D, a maritime patrol aircraft, describes the P-8I flown by the Navy for surveillance and anti-submarine work. HAL's other helicopters worth remembering are Dhruv, the advanced light helicopter, and Rudra, its armed version, while the Apache attack helicopter and the Chinook heavy-lift helicopter are imported from Boeing of the United States.

The correct answer is B, the Andaman and Nicobar Command, Port Blair. It is the only command in which units of the Army, the Navy and the Air Force work under a single commander-in-chief, an arrangement adopted because the islands lie far from the mainland and guard the approaches to the Malacca Strait. Option A, the Western Naval Command at Mumbai, is a naval command and the home of the carrier fleet on the west coast. Option C, the Eastern Naval Command at Visakhapatnam, is the Navy's command on the east coast. Option D, the Southern Naval Command at Kochi, is the Navy's training command. All three of the latter are naval commands alone, which is the distinction the question tests, and the Strategic Forces Command, which handles nuclear weapons, is a separate tri-service body rather than a geographical command.

The correct answer is C, Admiral Gorshkov. INS Vikramaditya is a modified Kiev class ship of Soviet origin, formerly named Admiral Gorshkov, which was rebuilt in Russia and handed over to India, entering service as an aircraft carrier operating MiG-29K fighters. Option A, HMS Hercules, was the British ship that India completed and commissioned in 1961 as the first INS Vikrant. Option B, HMS Hermes, was the British carrier that served India as INS Viraat until 2017. Option D is not the name of any Indian carrier. The full line of Indian carriers is therefore the first Vikrant from 1961, Viraat, Vikramaditya and the new indigenous Vikrant of 2022, and papers often ask which of them was built in India, the answer being only the last.

The correct answer is C, the Visakhapatnam class. Project 15B produced the Visakhapatnam class of guided missile destroyers, built at Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders in Mumbai, which includes INS Visakhapatnam, INS Mormugao and INS Imphal. Option A, the Delhi class, came from the original Project 15, the first destroyers designed in India. Option B, the Kolkata class, came from Project 15A, the step between the Delhi and Visakhapatnam classes. Option D, the Shivalik class, is not a destroyer class at all but the frigates of Project 17, which were followed by the Nilgiri class frigates of Project 17A. The numbering is worth learning as a ladder, Project 15, 15A and 15B for destroyers and Project 17 and 17A for frigates, with Project 28 for the Kamorta class anti-submarine corvettes.

The correct answer is A, Globemaster III. The C-17 Globemaster III, made by Boeing, is the heaviest transport aircraft of the Indian Air Force and is used to move troops, vehicles and relief material over long distances, including to high-altitude airfields. Option B, Super Hercules, is the name of the C-130J, a smaller transport used chiefly for special operations and short landing strips. Option C, Gajraj, is the service name of the Russian IL-76 transport, from which the Phalcon airborne early warning radar is also flown. Option D, Netra, is not a transport at all but the airborne early warning and control system developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation on an Embraer aircraft. Mid-air refuelling is done by the IL-78, which is a tanker version of the same Russian aircraft.