News Related To Defence & Technology

1. Bolivia launched country’s first telecommunications Satellite Tupak Katari

Note: Capital of Bolivia : Sucre, President: Evo Morales

2. IRNSS—1A , IRNSS‐1B ‐ India's navigation satellite.

3. Pakistan successfully test fires Haft‐III (Ghaznavi) Short Range Surface to Surface Ballistic Missile . Range 290km

4. Indo‐Nepal joint military exercise Ex‐Surya Kiran Drills VI held at Saljhandi in Rupandehi district.

5. The largest 130‐MW Solar Power Plant of India Welspun Solar MP Project was launched at Bhagwanpur in Neemuch, Madhya Pradesh

6. NTPC signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Bihar State Power Generation Company Limited (BSPGCL) and Lakhisarai Bijlee Company Private Limited (LBCPL) to develop a 1320 MW (2 X 660 MW) Thermal Power Project at Kajra in Lakhisarai district of Bihar.

7. Nathpa Jhakri Hydro Power Station awarded a gold shield on 4 February 2014 for its meritorious performance in 2013‐

14.Nathpa Hydro power Station consecutively third time received the award.

Note: The Nathpa Jhakri Dam is a concrete gravity dam on the Satluj River in Himachal Pradesh.

8. INS Vikramaditya enters Indian Navy's area of operation. INS Vikramaditya (R33) is a Project which entered into service with the Indian Navy in 2013. The ship has been renamed in honour of Vikramaditya, a legendary 1st century BC emperor of Ujjain, India.

9. Fast Patrol Vessel Abhinav, the Indian Coast Guard Ship commissioned in Kochi

10. GSLV‐D5 launch places India in elite league of the U.S., Russia, France, Japan and China The GSLV is designed to inject its passenger spacecraft into the intended Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit with a combination of solid, earth‐storable liquid and cryogenic propellants in its first, second and third stages, respectively.

11. Indian mission to Mars blasts off successfully. The Mars Orbiter

Mission, known as "Mangalyaan" .

Note: i. Only the United States, Russia and the European Space Agency have been successful in this mission.

ii. The United States is the only nation that has successfully sent robotic explorers to land on Mars, the most recent being Curiosity which touched down in August 2012.

iii. Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chairman K. Radhakrishnan.

iv. The satellite is scheduled to reach the Mars orbit in September

2014 and is designed to circle the Red Planet in an elliptical orbit of 366 km X 80000 km.

v. Primary objectives of the Mars mission are to demonstrate India’s technological capability to send a satellite to orbit around Mars and conduct meaningful experiments such as looking for signs of life, take pictures of the red planet and study Martian environment.

12. IRNSS‐1A, India's first ever dedicated Navigation satellite launched blasted off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota.

13. INS Vikramaditya set to join Indian Navy . INS Vikramaditya is a Kiev class aircraft carrier which was commissioned by Russian Navy in 1987 under the name Baku.

14. Missiles:

1. Nuclear‐capable 'Agni‐V' tested for second time. 'Agni‐V' long‐range ballistic missile. strike range of more than 5000 km

Note: In the Agni (Surface to Surface missile) series, India at present has Agni‐1 with 700 km range, Agni‐2 with 2000 km range, Agni‐3 and Agni‐4 with 2500 km to more than 3500 range. Agni – V more than 5000 km

Prithvi:

1. Prithvi I ‐ 150km 2. Prithvi II ‐ 350km 3. Prithvi III ‐ 350km ‐ 600km