Indian Defence Forces and Missiles: Static GK and PYQs

The correct answer is C, the President of India. Article 53 of the Constitution vests the supreme command of the defence forces of the Union in the President, and the exercise of that command is regulated by law; commissions to officers are granted in the President's name. Option A is wrong because the Prime Minister heads the government and the Cabinet Committee on Security, and the President acts on ministerial advice, but the Prime Minister is not the Supreme Commander. Option B is wrong because the Defence Minister heads the Ministry of Defence, which is the administrative department for the forces, not the commander of them. Option D is wrong because the Chief of Defence Staff, a post created in 2019, is the principal military adviser to the Defence Minister and head of the Department of Military Affairs. The constitutional office is the answer examiners want.

The correct answer is B. On 15 January 1949 General K. M. Cariappa took charge as the first Indian Commander in Chief of the Indian Army, replacing the last British holder of the post, and the day has been observed as Army Day ever since. Option A is wrong because the Indian Army as a single force dates to 1895, but that year is not the reason for the date of Army Day. Option C is wrong because the end of the 1971 war is marked on 16 December as Vijay Diwas, when Pakistani forces surrendered at Dhaka. Option D is wrong because the first Republic Day parade of 26 January 1950 belongs to the Constitution coming into force, not to the Army. The date and its reason are asked together, so remember Cariappa with 15 January 1949.

The correct answer is B, Operation Trident. On the night of 4 December 1971 Indian missile boats attacked Karachi harbour in Operation Trident, sinking Pakistani vessels without loss, and the Navy marks the date as Navy Day. Option A is wrong because Operation Vijay is the name used both for the liberation of Goa in 1961 and for the Kargil operation of 1999, neither of which is a naval action of 4 December. Option C is wrong because Operation Cactus was the Indian intervention in the Maldives in 1988, in which the armed forces put down a coup attempt. Option D is wrong because Operation Meghdoot was the occupation of the Siachen glacier by the Army in 1984. Naval operations of 1971 are asked in pairs, so also note Operation Python, the follow up strike on Karachi.

The correct answer is B, Khadakwasla near Pune. The National Defence Academy is the only academy in which cadets of the Army, Navy and Air Force undergo joint training before moving to their own service academies for pre commission training. Option A is wrong because Dehradun is the seat of the Indian Military Academy, where Army cadets complete their training, and of the Rashtriya Indian Military College. Option C is wrong because Ezhimala in Kannur district of Kerala is the Indian Naval Academy. Option D is wrong because Wellington in the Nilgiris houses the Defence Services Staff College, a mid career institution for officers of all three services, not a cadet academy. The Air Force Academy at Dundigal near Hyderabad completes the list that examiners use for matching.

The correct answer is C, Dr A. P. J. Abdul Kalam. The Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme was approved in 1983 and run under his leadership at the Defence Research and Development Laboratory, which is why he is called the Missile Man of India; it produced Prithvi, Agni, Trishul, Akash and Nag. Option A is wrong because Homi Bhabha was the architect of the Indian atomic energy programme and the first chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission. Option B is wrong because Vikram Sarabhai founded the Indian space programme and is remembered as the father of ISRO. Option D is wrong because Raja Ramanna led the team that carried out the first nuclear test at Pokhran in 1974. Papers mix these four names in one option set, so tie the missile programme to Kalam alone.

The correct answer is A, the Brahmaputra and the Moskva. BrahMos is built by a joint venture of India and Russia, and its name joins the Brahmaputra of India with the Moskva of Russia; it is a supersonic cruise missile that flies at nearly three times the speed of sound and can be launched from land, ships, submarines and aircraft. Option B is wrong because the Mosel is a river of France and Germany and has no part in the name. Option C is wrong because the Brahmani flows in Odisha and is not the Indian half of the name, even though it sounds close. Option D is wrong because the Mahanadi is an Indian river, so it could not supply the Russian half of a joint name. Also remember that BrahMos was not one of the five IGMDP missiles.

The correct answer is B, an anti tank guided missile. Nag is a third generation fire and forget anti tank missile of the IGMDP, and its helicopter launched version is called Helina. Option A is wrong because the surface to air missiles of the same programme are Trishul, for short range, and Akash, for medium range air defence. Option C is wrong because the Indian beyond visual range air to air missile fired from fighter aircraft is Astra, not Nag. Option D is wrong because the submarine launched ballistic missiles of India are the K series, K 15 Sagarika and K 4, carried by the Arihant class submarines that give the country the sea leg of its nuclear triad. Match the five IGMDP names to their roles once and this family of questions becomes free marks.

The correct answer is B, Ashoka Chakra. India keeps two ladders of gallantry awards. Away from the battlefield the order is Ashoka Chakra, Kirti Chakra and Shaurya Chakra, so Ashoka Chakra stands highest in peacetime. Option A is wrong because the Param Vir Chakra is the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy, that is in war. Option C is wrong because the Kirti Chakra stands second in the peacetime ladder, below the Ashoka Chakra. Option D is wrong because the Maha Vir Chakra is the second highest wartime award, below the Param Vir Chakra and above the Vir Chakra. All six decorations were instituted on 26 January 1950, and the first Param Vir Chakra went posthumously to Major Somnath Sharma in 1947.

The correct answer is D, Narendra Modi. The Prime Minister commissioned INS Vikrant at Kochi on 2 September 2022; built by Cochin Shipyard, it is the first aircraft carrier designed and built in India and it carries the name of the older Vikrant that served in the 1971 war. At the same ceremony the new naval ensign was unveiled. Option A is wrong because Rajnath Singh, as Defence Minister, has commissioned and launched other warships but not this carrier. Option B is wrong because Amit Shah holds the Home portfolio, which deals with the central armed police forces rather than the Navy. Option C is wrong because Jyotiraditya Scindia held the civil aviation portfolio and had no role in the commissioning. India's other carrier is INS Vikramaditya, rebuilt from the Russian Admiral Gorshkov.

The correct answer is B, Odisha. The Integrated Test Range of the DRDO lies at Chandipur on the Balasore coast of Odisha, and its launch complex on Dr Abdul Kalam Island, earlier called Wheeler Island, off the same coast is used for longer range tests. Option A is wrong because Andhra Pradesh has Sriharikota, the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, which belongs to ISRO and launches satellites rather than testing military missiles. Option C is wrong because Tamil Nadu has the Thumba equatorial rocket station nearby in Kerala and a propulsion complex at Mahendragiri, but not the missile test range. Option D is wrong because Gujarat has no missile test range of this kind. Keep Chandipur for missiles and Sriharikota for satellite launches separate, because both appear in the same options.