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RAS question

Nirbhay is India's indigenous:

Correct answer: (A) Subsonic cruise missile.

Nirbhay is India’s indigenously designed and developed long-range subsonic cruise missile.

  1. (A)

    Subsonic cruise missile

  2. (B)

    Ballistic missile

  3. (C)

    Anti-ship missile

  4. (D)

    Anti-satellite weapon

Explanation

Nirbhay is classified as a subsonic cruise missile, not as a ballistic, anti-ship, or anti-satellite system. It is India’s first indigenous subsonic cruise missile, developed by DRDO, with a range of over 1,000 km, Mach 0.7 flight, a turbofan engine, a 300 kg warhead capacity, and waypoint navigation. The PIB release supports the classification by calling Nirbhay an “indigenously designed & developed Long Range Sub-Sonic Cruise Missile” and noting that its trial proved cruise-phase performance through waypoint navigation at very low altitudes. That low-altitude cruise profile is the point of the question: Nirbhay belongs to the cruise-missile category and complements, rather than duplicates, the supersonic BrahMos.

Why the other options are wrong

  • (B) A ballistic missile follows a ballistic trajectory; the Agni series belongs to that category, while Nirbhay is described as a subsonic cruise missile.
  • (C) An anti-ship missile is a different operational category, and BrahMos is identified as the primary anti-ship missile rather than Nirbhay.
  • (D) An anti-satellite weapon targets satellites, while the ASAT role is linked to a PDV-based system and Nirbhay is identified as a cruise missile.

Concept

This tests defence technology classification in Science and Technology: aspirants must separate cruise missiles from ballistic, anti-ship, and anti-satellite systems. RAS repeats such items because DRDO programmes are a common bridge between current affairs and basic defence-science concepts.

Source

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