(FREE) UPSC Current Affairs 2024 PDF

(Current Affairs) Science & Technology, Defence, Environment | January: 2017

Science & Technology, Defense, Environment

Agni V launch shows India’s nuclear deterrence capability (Free Available)
Nirbhaya and canister mounted Agni V to be launched (Free Available)
U.S cybersecurity recommendations (Only for Online Coaching Members)
Country to get first industry built spacecraft by 2017 (Only for Online Coaching Members)

Agni V launch shows India’s nuclear deterrence capability

The test-firing of India’s most formidable ballistic missile, Agni-V , from the Abdul Kalam Island, of the Odisha coast, was an unalloyed success, signalling that India's nuclear deterrence capability has come of age.
This is the fourth success in a row for Agni-V , which can carry a nuclear warhead weighing about 1.5 tonnes over a distance of 5,000 km and plus.
It was the second time that Agni-V was fired from a canister mounted on a massive TATRA truck parked on the Island.
A gas generator at the bottom of the canister kicked out the long-range, three-stage, surface-to-surface missile that weighed 50 tonnes, was 17 metres long and had a two-metre diameter.
The previous Agni-V flight from a canister was on January 31, 2015. A missile launched from a canister mounted on a road-mobile launcher gives it operational flexibility.
This means it can be fired from a road in a city, after stopping the traffic, giving reduced reaction time. The missile can be made vertical in three minutes and the launch takes a few more minutes.
The two stages jettisoned and the missile accelerated as it plunged towards the earth. Its re-entry systems worked perfectly.
The heat-shield made of carbon-car-bon composites and encasing the dummy warhead, withstood a temperature of about 4,000 degrees Celsius. The on-board computer guided the missile towards its impact point in the Indian Ocean.
The bouquet of five Agnis form the bulwark of India's nuclear deterrence capability. While Agni-I has a range of 700 km, Agni-II 2,000 km, and Agni-III 3,000 km, Agni-IV can take out targets 4,000 km away.

Nirbhaya and canister mounted Agni V to be launched

If weather permits, two important missile launches are to take place this month. India's long-range, sub-sonic cruise missile, Nirbhay, will lift of from the Launch Complex-III of the IntegratedTest Range, Balasore, Odisha.
The redoubtable Agni-V, which can carry nuclear war-heads over a distance of about 5,000 km, will be fired from a canister mounted on a massive truck from Wheeler Island, of the Odisha coast, on December 26.
Nirbhay, which has a range of about 1,000 km, has blen-ded missile and aeronautical technologies into a single contraption. It will take of vertically like a missile.
Amechanism in its first stage will tilt it horizontally and the first stage with its booster engine will then fall of. The second stage with a turbo-jet engine will cruise horizontally like an aircraftat a subsonic speed of 0.7 Mach.
The missiles will be fired by the Defence Research and Development Organisation, which has conceived, de-signed and developed them.