INS Arihant, commissioned in 2016, is best described as

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 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.