Science, Technology and National Security Questions and Answers

Answer: D

The keyed answer is Technological know-how and arms buildup.

When military technology is transferred, by licensed production, co-production, joint ventures or the sale of technical data, the recipient gains more than finished weapons: it gains the know-how to maintain, adapt and eventually manufacture them. That is why studies of technology transfer treat it as feeding the recipient's own arms production and so its arms buildup.

The other options are overlapping descriptions of the same field: a 'transfer of arms strategy', 'weapon technology and national security' and 'technology and arms trade' name topics around the subject rather than the two things a transfer of technology most directly changes. The options overlap closely, and I could not find a source that singles out the keyed wording over the others, so this explanation rests on the keyed reading being the closest fit to how the transfer literature describes the effect, not on a quotation.

Answer: B

The keyed code is Both (A) and (R) are not correct.

The assertion is wrong: every nuclear power station in operation generates electricity by nuclear fission, the splitting of heavy nuclei such as uranium-235. Controlled fusion, the joining of light nuclei, is still at the experimental stage in projects such as ITER and does not yet produce electricity commercially.

The reason is also wrong: nuclear power is widely used, India alone running some twenty reactors, and the chain reaction is controlled with control rods and moderators. So neither statement is correct.

Answer: B

The architect of India's nuclear programme was Dr. Homi Jahangir Bhabha.

Bhabha founded the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research in 1945, became the first chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission in 1948, and set up the Atomic Energy Establishment at Trombay, later named the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre. He planned India's three-stage nuclear power programme based on its thorium reserves.

Vikram Sarabhai (the paper adds 'Patel') founded the space programme, A. P. J. Abdul Kalam led missile development, and C. N. R. Rao is a solid-state chemist.

Answer: B

The proponent of the RMA is Andrew Marshall.

Andrew Marshall, long-serving director of the Pentagon's Office of Net Assessment, built on Soviet writing about a 'military-technical revolution' and promoted the concept of a Revolution in Military Affairs (the paper prints 'Action'): a fundamental change in warfare brought about by new technologies combined with new doctrine and organisation.

Mao is known for people's war, Mussolini was a fascist dictator, and Kissinger a diplomat and theorist of limited war and détente; none of them is associated with the RMA.

Answer: A

Both (A) and (R) are correct, and (R) is supportive of (A).

Information warfare, the use and protection of information and information systems to gain advantage over an adversary (through cyber attack, electronic warfare, deception and psychological operations), is recognised as a new form of warfare.

The reason supports this: modern forces depend on highly capable information systems for command, control, communications and intelligence. These multiply combat power, but the same dependence makes them vulnerable, so attacking and defending information becomes a form of warfare in its own right. Options denying either statement are therefore wrong.

Answer: D

Both (A) and (R) are correct.

Studies of military revolutions, from the German Blitzkrieg to the American precision-strike revolution, conclude that new technology alone does not transform warfare. A true RMA comes from combining technology with new operational concepts, doctrine and organisation: the Germans and the French had similar tanks in 1940, but only the Germans had the concept to exploit them.

So the assertion that technology alone is insufficient, and the reason that operational concepts are as important as invention, are both correct, and the options marking either one incorrect are ruled out.

Answer: B

The keyed answer is 1500 - 0.25 mm.

I could not find a published classification that gives these exact bounds, so the figure rests on the official key. The stem names a scheme in which air vehicles get smaller step by step from mini to micro, nano and pico. The DARPA definition of a micro air vehicle is a flying vehicle no more than 15 cm in any dimension, so a range quoted for the whole family necessarily spans several orders of magnitude.

The options differ only in how far both ends of the range are shifted, and I could not find a source that would distinguish them, so the keyed figure is followed.

Answer: D

The one not a micro/nano air vehicle mission is minerals detection.

Micro and nano air vehicles, very small unmanned aircraft, are developed mainly for military and security missions: surveillance and reconnaissance, communication relay, electronic warfare (jamming or eavesdropping) and the detection of nuclear, biological and chemical (NBC) agents in dangerous areas.

Surveying for minerals needs larger sensors and long endurance over wide areas, so it is not among the missions listed for these vehicles.

Answer: D

Agni-II is a surface-to-surface missile.

Agni-II is an Indian intermediate-range ballistic missile with a range of about 2,000 km, first tested in 1999 and inducted into the Strategic Forces Command. It is launched from the ground (from rail or road mobile launchers) at targets on the ground, which makes it a surface-to-surface missile capable of carrying a nuclear warhead.

It is not an anti-aircraft (ground-to-air) or air-to-air missile, and India's submarine-launched missiles are the K series, not the Agni.

Answer: B

ISRO is situated at Bengaluru.

The headquarters of the Indian Space Research Organisation is at Antariksh Bhavan in Bengaluru, which also houses the Department of Space and the satellite centre (now the U R Rao Satellite Centre).

Sriharikota, in Andhra Pradesh, is the site of the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, ISRO's launch station, not its headquarters. Pune and the place printed 'Chandikapur' are not ISRO centres of this kind.