UPSC Key: BrahMos, Domestic Solar Cell Mandate, and Illegal Sand Mining in Chambal

Read the article. Then crack the quiz.Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.Mains Examination: General Studies-II, III: Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India., Science and Technology, indigenization of technology and developing new technology.What’s the ongoing story: In the first official confirmation of India selling the BrahMos missiles to Vietnam, Defence Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh said Saturday that a deal has been signed with the southeast Asian nation for the supply of the missiles, adding that a similar deal with Indonesia is in “final stages”. Key Points to Ponder: — BrahMos missile: Know the background and history development. — What are the key features of the BrahMos missile? — What is the strategic significance of BrahMos? — What are the different versions of BrahMos? — The BrahMos missile is named after which two rivers? — What are cruise missiles? — Know the terms and differences between infrasonic, subsonic, supersonic, ultrasonic, etc. — What do you understand by stealth technology? — What are India’s important precision-guided long-range weapons and drones? — What are the major defence agreements of India in the recent past? Key Takeaways:Story continues below this ad — Singh, who is in Singapore to attend the Shangri-La Dialogue, made the comments in response to a question on potential buyers of the missile system. — “My understanding is that with both Indonesia and with Vietnam, the deal is in the final stages… In fact, for Vietnam, I understand that it has already been signed, probably not publicly announced, but it’s already been signed,” he said. — Signing a contract worth nearly 375 million dollars, The Philippines had become the first foreign buyer of the BrahMos missile system from India in 2022. In March, Indonesia had also said that it had entered into an agreement with India to procure the BrahMos missile system. — The details of the deals with Indonesia and Vietnam are yet to be made public. Singh said countries generally sell sophisticated weapon systems and platforms to nations they regard as friendly partners.Story continues below this ad — He said India has a strong commitment to the ASEAN nations, adding: “…we treat all of you as ‘friendly foreign countries’ with whom we can share advanced defence technologies”. — He told delegates that India was ready to work with partners across the region and beyond to build resilient supply chains and trusted defence partnerships besides securing maritime commons. — He said India had undertaken major reforms in defence production, innovation and exports over the past decade, adding that the sector had been opened to greater private-sector participation. Do You Know: — BrahMos supersonic cruise missiles, which have been operationalised in all three defence services, are built by BrahMos Aerospace, a joint venture between India’s Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and Russia’s NPO Mashinostroyeniya.Story continues below this ad — BrahMos is a two-stage missile with a solid propellant booster engine. Its first stage brings the missile to supersonic speed (meaning faster than sound) and then gets separated. The liquid ramjet or the second stage then takes the missile closer to three times the speed of sound in cruise phase. The missile has an extremely low radar signature, making it stealthy, and it can follow a variety of paths. — BrahMos missiles operate at close to Mach 3 speed in the cruise phase, which ensures reduced flight time, lower dispersion of targets, and quicker engagement time and non-interception. — The missile operates on a ‘Fire and Forget Principle’, adopting varieties of flights on its way to the target. As per its website, cruising altitude could be up to 15 km and terminal altitude as low as 10 metres. The missile carries a conventional warhead weighing 200-300 kg. — The range of some BrahMos missiles for land and ship attacks have been ne