RAS question
The Prithvi missile series was developed under which programme?
Correct answer: (B) Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme (IGMDP).
The Prithvi missile series was developed under the Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme (IGMDP).
Explanation
The Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme is the programme linked to the Prithvi series. The official PIB release states that IGMDP was started in 1983 and was sanctioned to develop Prithvi, Trishul, Akash, Nag and a Technology Demonstrator Agni missile. That matches the standard RAS framing: Prithvi is the surface-to-surface missile family within the five-system IGMDP basket, along with Agni, Akash, Trishul and Nag. The question is therefore not asking about an isolated Prithvi project, but about the larger Indian guided-missile development programme under which the series was developed.
Why the other options are wrong
- (A) Project Devil was an earlier missile project from the 1970s, not the programme under which the Prithvi series is grouped in the IGMDP basket.
- (C) The Strategic Defence Initiative was a United States programme, whereas Prithvi is identified with India's Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme.
- (D) Project Valiant was linked to ICBM development in the 1970s, not to the IGMDP set that included Prithvi.
Concept
This tests India's defence-technology programmes, especially the mapping of major missile systems to IGMDP. RAS repeats such questions because science-and-technology topics often appear through named national programmes and their flagship outputs.