Science and Technology › Defence technology
Military platforms, drones and new weapons
The platforms that carry military power, and new kinds of weapon: aircraft and their engines, ships and submarines, tanks and artillery, drones and counter drone systems, and directed energy and electronic warfare. Prelims has asked about fifth generation fighters, stealth and drone swarms.
UPSC has asked
- Prelims 2026: stealth technology, radar cross-section and radar absorbing material
- Prelims 2025: unmanned aerial vehicles, their landing, hovering and power
Showing 4 of 9 subjects, those that changed from 16 to 31 July 2026.Show all
Micro gas turbine engines
Copy link to Micro gas turbine enginesPrelims and Mains
A drone or a compact missile needs an engine small enough to carry and cheap enough to lose, which is a different problem from powering a fighter. The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research's National Aerospace Laboratories (CSIR-NAL) unveiled three indigenous engines of that class.
- The NJ-05, NJ-50 and NJ-100 are rated at 5, 50 and 100 kg thrust.
- They are meant for tactical unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), drone interceptors and compact missiles.
What changed
25 Aug 2026
PIB, 25 Aug 2026: CSIR-NAL unveils indigenous micro gas turbine engines (opens in a new tab)
23 Jul 2026Updatealso in news
- India's first indigenous expendable turbojet of the 350 kg thrust class, designed by the Gas Turbine Research Establishment and built by a private firm, was delivered. An expendable engine is built for a single flight, as on a cruise missile or target drone.
INS Nipun
Copy link to INS NipunPrelims
A diving support vessel is built around pressure rather than firepower. Its work is to keep divers alive while they are down, and to be overhead when a submarine cannot come up.
- Indian Naval Ship (INS) Nipun, the Navy's second Nistar class diving support vessel, was commissioned.
- It follows INS Nistar, and like it was built by Hindustan Shipyard Limited.
- It supports saturation diving, so divers can work on the seabed for days at a time.
- Its hyperbaric lifeboat evacuates divers still under pressure, so an emergency does not force a rapid decompression.
- It is the mother ship for a Deep Submergence Rescue Vessel (DSRV), which rescues the crew of a disabled submarine.
What changed
1 Sep 2026
30 Jul 2026Updatealso in news
- Nipun, the second indigenous Diving Support Vessel, was delivered to the Navy by Hindustan Shipyard.
PIB, 30 Jul 2026: DELIVERY OF SECOND INDIGENOUS DIVING SUPPORT VESSEL - ‘NIPUN’ (opens in a new tab)
Anti Submarine Warfare Shallow Water Craft
Copy link to Anti Submarine Warfare Shallow Water CraftPrelims
The Mahe class craft hunt submarines in coastal waters too shallow for larger ships; sixteen are being built at two shipyards.
What changed
22 Jul 2026New subject
- INS Malvan, the second Mahe class craft, was commissioned, the sixth of sixteen such craft being built at two shipyards. Machilipatnam, the seventh of eight in the Cochin Shipyard order, was launched on 29 July.
- The class hunts submarines in coastal waters too shallow for larger ships.
PIB, 22 Jul 2026: INDIAN NAVY COMMISSIONS INS MALVAN, THE SECOND OF THE MAHE-CLASS ANTI-SUBMARINE WARFARE SHALLOW WATER CRAFT (opens in a new tab) · PIB, 29 Jul 2026: LAUNCH OF MACHILIPATNAM, THE SEVENTH OF THE MAHE-CLASS ANTI-SUBMARINE WARFARE SHALLOW WATER CRAFT (opens in a new tab)
Airborne Early Warning and Control Mk II
Copy link to Airborne Early Warning and Control Mk IIPrelims and Mains
The Mk II is DRDO's airborne early warning aircraft built on a converted A321 airliner, with the radar and mission systems developed in India.
What changed
22 Jul 2026New subject
- DRDO's Centre for Air Borne Systems signed contracts to convert six A321 airliners into bare airframes and to build the radar and mission systems with an Indian private firm as development and production partner.