RAS question
BrahMos missile is a joint venture between India and which country?
Correct answer: (C) Russia.
BrahMos is an Indo-Russian supersonic cruise missile system jointly developed by India's DRDO and Russia's NPOM.
Explanation
BrahMos is linked to Russia because the official DRDO product page says it was jointly developed by DRDO, India, and NPOM, Russia. That makes Russia the country partner, not merely a supplier or a later collaborator. DRDO describes BrahMos as a universal, long-range, supersonic cruise missile system that can be launched from land, sea and air, with anti-ship and land-attack variants. The name's symbolism is also important: BrahMos combines the Brahmaputra river of India with the Moskva river of Russia. Its Mach 2.8 supersonic speed and the under-development BrahMos-II hypersonic variant are useful recall hooks, but the exam point is the Indo-Russian joint development structure.
Why the other options are wrong
- (A) USA is wrong because the DRDO page names DRDO, India, and NPOM, Russia, as the joint developers of BrahMos, with no US role in this venture.
- (B) France is wrong because BrahMos is an Indo-Russian project, not an Indo-French missile programme.
- (D) Israel is wrong because, while India may collaborate with Israel on other defence systems, the BrahMos joint development is specifically with Russia's NPOM.
Concept
This tests the Science and Technology part of defence technology, especially India's strategic missile collaborations. It recurs in RAS because defence systems often appear as quick-fact questions linking a platform to its developer, partner country and basic capability.