Passage Based Questions: Current Affairs & GK - 4 | Passage Based Questions for CLAT Preparation PDF Download

Information: Rafale-M is the naval variant of the French fighter jet Dassault Rafale. In December 2016, the Navy announced that the HAL Tejas was overweight for carrier operations, and other alternatives would be looked at. The Navy intially settled with MiG-29K as the primary aircraft for the IAC-1.
In late January 2017, the Indian Navy released an international Request For Information (RFI) for 57 “Multi-Role Carrier Borne Fighters”. The main contest was between the Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet and the Dassault Rafale-M. Both these aircraft are operable on INS Vikrant and INS Vikramaditya. On 6 January 2022, The Indian Navy started testing the Rafale-M for operations from INS Vikrant at the shore-based test facility at INS Hansa in Goa.

Information: Cochin Shipyard Ltd (CSL) is one of the largest shipbuilding and maintenance facility in India. It is part of a line of maritime-related facilities in the port-city of Kochi, in the state of Kerala, India. Presently it is building the first indigenous aircraft carriers for the Indian Navy, the INS Vikrant. The shipyard started offering ship repair services in 1982 and has undertaken upgrades and repairs for all types of ships including ships for the oil exploration industry as well as scheduled maintenance and life extension for ships. It has performed major overhauls for the aircraft carrier, INS Viraat. It has also performed major overhauls for the aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya two times on 2016 and 2018 respectively.

Information: Philippines’ Department of National Defence Thursday published a ‘Notice of Award’ asking BrahMos, an Indo-Russian joint venture, to sign the contract. This will be the first export of this missile. In November, Chinese coast guard ships blocked and used water cannons on two Philippines supply boats heading to a disputed shoal occupied by Filipino marines in the South China Sea.
India-Russia joint venture BrahMos will boost Philippines’ defence against Chinese aggression. Contract is for shore-based variant of anti-ship cruise missile, with 290 km range.

Information: INS Vikrant, also known as Indigenous Aircraft Carrier 1 (IAC-1), is an aircraft carrier constructed by the Cochin Shipyard Limited (CSL) for the Indian Navy. It is the first aircraft carrier to be built in India. It is named ‘Vikrant’ as a tribute to India’s first aircraft carrier, Vikrant (R11). The name Vikrant (Sanskrit vikrānta, literally “stepping beyond”) means “courageous”.
The motto of the ship is “Jayema Saṁ Yudhi Spr̥dhaḥ”, which is taken from Rigveda and means “I defeat those who fight against me”. INS Vikrant shall be India’s second Aircraft Carrier in active service, along with INS Vikramaditya. (INS Viraat and INS Vikrant (R11) have been retired in 2017 and 1990 respectively)

Information: The Arihant-class (Sanskrit for Slayer of Enemies) is a class of Indian nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines being built for the Indian Navy. They were developed under the ₹90,000 crore (US$12 billion) Advanced Technology Vessel (ATV) project to design and build nuclear-powered submarines. These vessels are classified as ‘strategic strike nuclear submarines’ by India.
The lead vessel of the class, INS Arihant was launched in 2009, and after extensive sea trials, was confirmed to be commissioned in August 2016. Arihant holds the distinction of being the first ballistic missile submarine to have been built by a country other than one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council.