VidBodh AcademyThe art and science of civil services preparation

Science and Technology › Defence technology

Missiles and air defence

Missiles and the defences against them: how missiles are classed by flight, range and launch, India's missile families and air defence systems, and the regimes that control missile technology. Prelims has asked about Agni-IV and how ballistic and cruise missiles differ.

UPSC has asked

  • Prelims 2023: how ballistic and cruise missiles are propelled

Showing 2 of 4 subjects, those that changed from 1 to 15 July 2026.Show all

Pinaka Long Range Guided Rocket

Copy link to Pinaka Long Range Guided Rocket

Prelims

Pinaka is the Army's multi barrel rocket launcher, and its guided long range rocket fires from the launcher already in service, so one launcher can fire variants of different ranges.

What changed

  1. 8 Jul 2026New subject

    • DRDO tested the guided rocket at Chandipur for a user defined minimum range of 60 km. It was fired from the launcher already in service, so one launcher can fire Pinaka variants of different ranges.

    PIB, 8 Jul 2026: DRDO conducts successful flight-test of Pinaka Long Range Guided Rocket (opens in a new tab) · The Hindu, 9 Jul 2026: DRDO conducts successful flight test of Pinaka rocket (opens in a new tab)

Prelims and Mains

BrahMos is a supersonic cruise missile made by a joint venture of DRDO and a Russian partner, so each export needs agreement on both sides; the Philippines was the first customer.

What changed

  1. 7 Jul 2026New subject

    • India will supply two batteries of the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile to Indonesia, which joins the Philippines and Vietnam as customers.
    • BrahMos is made by a joint venture of DRDO and a Russian partner, so each export needs agreement on both sides.

    The Indian Express, 7 Jul 2026: India to supply two BrahMos batteries to Indonesia, taking the export list to three countries (opens in a new tab)