Defence News Questions and Answers

Answer: B

The theme was Path to Pride.

DefExpo 2022, the 12th edition of India's land, naval and homeland security exhibition, was held at Gandhinagar, Gujarat, in October 2022 with the theme 'Path to Pride'. It was the first edition limited to Indian companies, in line with the push for self-reliance in defence.

'India: The Emerging Defence Manufacturing Hub' was the theme of DefExpo 2020 in Lucknow. 'Synergy for Defence' and 'Aatmanirbharta' alone were not the 2022 theme.

Answer: C

The official key is 50. In February 2023 the Indian Army began placing women officers from the combat-support arms, outside the medical stream, in command of units, and the report quoted in the question puts the number set to head units in operational areas, including forward locations, at about 50. The figure is approximate in the stem itself, which is why the question says approximately. The other options, 30, 40 and 60, are different numbers and are not the one the key gives. Because this is a current-affairs recall question, the answer rests on the official key and the reported figure.

Answer: A

Both Statement I and Statement II are correct.

The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute's report of March 2025 found that Ukraine was the largest importer of major arms in 2020-24, followed by India, which took about 8 percent of global arms imports. India has also set up two defence industrial corridors, one in Uttar Pradesh (with nodes such as Lucknow, Kanpur and Jhansi) and one in Tamil Nadu (with nodes such as Chennai and Coimbatore), to build up domestic defence manufacturing.

Since both statements are accurate, every other option is ruled out.

Answer: A

The next-generation supersonic trainer is the HLFT-42.

HAL unveiled a full-scale model of the HLFT-42 (Hindustan Lead-in Fighter Trainer) at Aero India in February 2023. It is designed as a supersonic lead-in fighter trainer to prepare pilots for frontline combat aircraft.

The IJT (Intermediate Jet Trainer) is subsonic. The LCA Tejas is a light combat aircraft (option D names the same aircraft), not the new trainer.

Answer: A

The first woman pilot was Sub-Lieutenant Shivangi Swaroop from Bihar.

Sub-Lieutenant Shivangi, from Muzaffarpur in Bihar, joined operational duties at the Southern Naval Command in Kochi in December 2019, becoming the Indian Navy's first woman pilot, flying the Dornier maritime surveillance aircraft.

The other names and ranks do not belong to the Navy's first woman pilot; 'Wing Commander' is an Air Force rank, not a Navy one.

Answer: D

Production started at Bengaluru.

The Light Combat Helicopter, designed and built by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, entered limited series production at HAL's Helicopter Division in Bengaluru as part of the Make in India drive. HAL's helicopter design and manufacture is concentrated in Bengaluru, with a newer helicopter factory at Tumakuru in Karnataka.

Gurugram, Vizag and Cochin have no HAL helicopter production line, so they are wrong.

Answer: A

The air-to-air missile is Astra.

Astra, developed by DRDO, is India's indigenous beyond-visual-range air-to-air missile, fired from fighter aircraft such as the Su-30MKI to destroy enemy aircraft at long range.

Akash is a surface-to-air missile, fired from the ground at aircraft. Prithvi is a surface-to-surface ballistic missile. Becquerel is not a missile at all: it is the SI unit of radioactivity, one nuclear decay per second.

Answer: C

The theme was The runway to a billion opportunities.

The 12th edition of Aero India, the biennial aerospace and defence exhibition, was held at Air Force Station Yelahanka in Bengaluru in February 2019, with the theme 'The runway to a billion opportunities', highlighting India's market and manufacturing ambitions in aviation and defence.

'Fly for a billion opportunities' is a close imitation built to catch candidates who remember only the 'billion opportunities' part. The other two phrases are not Aero India themes.

Answer: C

The company is Bharat Dynamics Limited.

Bharat Dynamics Limited, the defence public sector undertaking at Hyderabad, is the production agency for the guided missiles developed by DRDO, including the Akash surface-to-air missile system, and it took the technology from DRDO to manufacture the Army variant.

The Ordnance Factory Board made arms and ammunition, Mishra Dhatu Nigam makes special alloys, and Bharat Earth Movers makes heavy vehicles and earth-moving equipment; none is a missile producer.

Answer: D

DRDO set up the research cell at IIT - Hyderabad.

DRDO signed an agreement with IIT Hyderabad on 3 July 2020 to establish a research cell there, a satellite of its Research and Innovation Centre in Chennai, meant to grow into a centre for defence research in areas such as artificial intelligence, sensors, space technologies, unmanned aerial vehicles and quantum technologies. Press reports and IIT Hyderabad's own press release carried the news.

Jodhpur, Indore and Bhilai were not the institutes named in that announcement, so the other options are wrong.