Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO)

♦ Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO) successfully flight-tested Phase-II Ballistic Missile Defence System at ITR, Chandipur in Odisha on 24 July 2024. This system defends against ballistic missiles of the 5,000 km class. Phase 1 of the BMD, which can intercept ballistic missiles with a range of 2,000 km, has already been deployed. 

♦ The weapon system radars, strategically positioned on both land and sea, promptly detected the incoming Target Missile and activated the AD Interceptor system in response.

♦ This system comprises Long Range Sensors, a low latency communication system, the Mission Control Centre (MCC), and advanced Interceptor missiles.

The Indian Air Force (IAF)

♦ The Indian Air Force (IAF) participated in the biennial, multinational exercise Pitch Black 2024 at the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) Base in Darwin, Australia on 12 July 2024. This year’s iteration is poised to be the largest in its 43-year history, featuring participation from 20 countries, with over 140 aircraft and approximately 4,435 military personnel. This exercise was scheduled from July 12 to August 2.

♦ The exercise initially began as unilateral, but in 1983 became a joint Australia-US training event. Apart from Australia and India, countries that are regular participants include France, Germany, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand and the United Kingdom.  Other countries such as Brunei, Canada, Fiji and New Zealand have a few personnel participating in the exercise. Countries participating for the first time include Papua New Guinea, Italy, Spain and the Philippines.

♦ The IAF previously took part in the 2018 and 2022 editions of this exercise.

Patent Landscape Report

♦ According to the Patent Landscape Report, India ranked fifth with 1,350 GenAI patents. GenAI, or Generative AI, allows users to create content including text, images, music or software code, powering a range of industrial and consumer products, including chatbots such as ChatGPT, Google Gemini or Baidu’s ERNIE. This report was published by the UN World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). It analysed the data between 2014-2023 and assigned ranks. China got first rank in this report with 38,210 patents followed by the United States (6,276 patents), the Republic of Korea (4,155 patents), and Japan (3,409 patents).

♦ India has also overtaken the UK (sixth with 714 patents) and Germany (708) when it comes to number of GenAI patents published.

♦ The top 10 patent applicants are: 

♦ Tencent (2,074 inventions), Ping An Insurance (1,564), Baidu (1,234), Chinese Academy of Sciences (607), IBM (601), Alibaba Group (571), Samsung Electronics (468), Alphabet (443), ByteDance (418), and Microsoft (377).

Defence Research Development Organization (DRDO)

♦ Defence Research & Development Organization (DRDO) unveiled the country’s indigenous light tank Zorawar. It was jointly developed by the DRDO along with Larsen & Toubro (L&T) as the lead integrator. The project was approved by the Defence Acquisition Council in 2022 to strengthen the Indian Army's operational capabilities in challenging terrains.

♦ The weight of the tank has been kept at 25 tons for higher mobility at extreme altitudes and will feature a 105 mm gun made by John Cockerill, which will also be produced in India.

♦ The tank is powered by a 1,000 hp advanced combat engine from Cummins, which provides an excellent power-to-weight ratio.

Space Exploration and Research Agency

♦ The U.S.-based Space Exploration and Research Agency (SERA) announced India as a partner country in its human spaceflight programme on 1 July 2024. SERA will offer citizens worldwide six seats on a future mission of New Shepard, Blue Origin’s reusable suborbital rocket.

♦ The selected citizens will undertake the 11-minute journey in New Shepard, Blue Origin's reusable suborbital rocket, after training at its West Texas launch site.

♦ Any Indian citizen can register for the programme by paying a fee of around $2.5 to cover the costs of verification checks that ensure safe and fair voting. The final candidates will be voted on by the public for an opportunity to fly to space onboard the New Shepard mission.