Astra, developed by DRDO, belongs to which class of missiles?

The correct answer is C, Shaurya. Shaurya is the land based version of the submarine launched K-15 Sagarika, and it is stored and fired from a sealed canister, which lets it be moved by road and launched at short notice. It leaves the canister by a gas charge, then its own motor takes over, and it re-enters at hypersonic speed, which is what the question means by hypersonic tactical missile.

Option A, Astra, is a beyond visual range air-to-air missile fired from a fighter aircraft, not a surface to surface weapon. Option B, Akash, is a medium range surface to air missile of the IGMDP that works with the Rajendra radar and is meant to shoot down aircraft. Option D, Trishul, was the short range surface to air missile of the same programme, built for ships and forward positions. Only Shaurya is fired from the surface at a surface target.

The correct answer is C, A P J Abdul Kalam. The Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme was approved in 1983 and Kalam, then at the Defence Research and Development Laboratory, was made its head. Five missiles of different classes were taken up together so that common technologies such as propulsion, guidance and materials could be shared, and the success of the programme earned him the title Missile Man of India. He later became President of India and had received the Bharat Ratna in 1997.

Option A, Homi Jehangir Bhabha, was the father of the Indian atomic energy programme and died in 1966. Option B, Vikram Sarabhai, founded the Indian space programme and died in 1971. Option D, Satish Dhawan, headed ISRO after Sarabhai and the launch centre at Sriharikota is named after him. All three belong to the atomic or space story, not to the missile programme.

The correct answer is A, Nag. Nag is a third generation anti-tank guided missile of the fire and forget kind, which means that once the seeker has locked on to the target the operator need not keep guiding it, and the crew can move away at once. It is carried on a tracked launcher called NAMICA, and the helicopter launched version is named HELINA.

Option B, Trishul, was the short range surface to air missile of the same programme, meant to defend ships and forward posts against low flying aircraft. Option C, Prithvi, is a short range surface to surface missile, with the first version for the Army and the second for the Air Force. Option D, Akash, is the medium range surface to air missile that works with the Rajendra phased array radar. Only Nag is built to kill armour.

The correct answer is A, the Brahmaputra and the Moskva. BrahMos is built by BrahMos Aerospace, a joint venture formed in 1998 between DRDO and the Russian firm NPO Mashinostroyeniya, and the name joins a great river of each country. It is a supersonic cruise missile flying at nearly three times the speed of sound, and versions have been made for ships, submarines, land launchers and aircraft.

Option B names the Volga, the longest river of Russia, but the Moskva is the river of the Russian capital and is the one used. Option C replaces the Brahmaputra with the Beas, a Punjab river of the Indus system. Option D names the Brahmani, a river of Odisha whose name sounds close to Brahmaputra and so makes a good distractor. The pair to remember is Brahmaputra and Moskva.

The correct answer is B, 1958. DRDO was formed in that year by bringing together the Technical Development Establishment of the Indian Army, the Directorate of Technical Development and Production and the Defence Science Organisation, so that defence research would be done under one roof. It began with a handful of laboratories and now runs more than fifty, arranged in clusters such as missiles, aeronautics, armaments, naval systems, electronics and life sciences.

Option A, 1947, is the year of independence but not of this organisation. Option C, 1969, is the year ISRO was formed, which is the commonest confusion in this question. Option D, 1983, is the year the Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme was approved, twenty-five years after DRDO itself came into being. The order to remember is DRDO 1958, ISRO 1969 and IGMDP 1983.