Daily Current Affairs for UPSC, IAS, UPPSC/UPPCS, BPSC, MPPSC, RPSC and All State PCS Examinations (01 October 2020)

BrahMos Missile

The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) on September 30 th , 2020 successfully test-fired the BrahMos surface-to-surface cruise missile with an indigenous booster and air frame sector, along with other sub-systems made within the country.

BrahMos Missile

The supersonic missile is one of the prime precision-strike missiles used by all three forces, the Army, Navy and the Air Force.
BrahMos surface-to-surface supersonic cruise missile featuring indigenous Booster and Airframe Section along with many other ‘Made in India’ sub-systems was successfully flight tested for designated range” at 10.30 am from the integrated test range at Balasore in Odisha.
It is one more major step in enhancing the indigenous content.
The BrahMos Land-Attack Cruise Missile (LACM) was cruising at a top speed of Mach 2.8. The missile weighs around 2.5 tonnes and has a strike range of approximately 300 km.
The test comes at a time when BrahMos has been deployed in Ladakh as well as the Eastern Sector in Arunachal Pradesh to tackle any threats in the ongoing standoff with China.

The BrahMos is a ramjet supersonic cruise missile of a short-range developed by Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and the Russian Federation’s NPO Mashinostroyeniya.
BrahMos was named after two major rivers of India and Russia: Brahmaputra and Moskva.
The technology used in this joint venture is based on the Russian P-800 Oniks cruise missile and similar sea-skimming cruise missiles from Russia.
It is a two-stage (solid propellant engine in the first stage and liquid ramjet in second) air to surface missile with a flight range of around 300 km.
However, India's entry into the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) has extended the range of the BRAHMOS missile to reach 450 km-600km, a shade above its current MTCR capped range of 300 km.
Brahmos is the heaviest weapon to be deployed on Su-30 MKI fighter aircraft, with a weight of 2.5 tonnes.
Brahmos is a multiplatform i.e it can be launched from land, air, and sea and multi capability missile with pinpoint accuracy that works in both day and night irrespective of the weather conditions.
It operates on the "Fire and Forgets" principle i.e it does not require further guidance after launch.
Brahmos is one of the fastest cruise missile currently operationally deployed with speed of Mach 2.8, which is 3 times more than the speed of sound.

The blue ammonia is shipped for first time in the world from Saudi Arabia to Japan.

Blue Ammonia shipped to Japan will be used in power stations to produce electricity without carbon emissions.
Saudi Aramco, which recently made the announcement, produced the fuel, which it does by converting hydrocarbons into hydrogen and then ammonia, and capturing the carbon dioxide by-product.
Japan will receive 40 tons of blue ammonia in the first shipment.

Blue ammonia is a feedstock for blue hydrogen, a version of the fuel made from fossil fuels with a process that captures and stores CO 2 emissions.
Hydrogen from renewable energy that creates no emissions is known as green hydrogen.

Ammonia can be burned in thermal power stations without releasing carbon emissions.
That means it has “the potential to make a significant contribution to an affordable and reliable low-carbon energy future’’.

Japan aims to be a world-leader in the use of hydrogen, which is contained in ammonia.
The country has committed to reducing its greenhouse gas emissions 26% by 2030 from 2013 levels, under the Paris climate pact.
Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest oil exporter, is increasingly trying to counter its reputation for producing dirty energy.
In recent months, Aramco has highlighted the low volume of greenhouse gases emitted from pumping Saudi crude, programs to boost gas production and plans to grow carbon-absorbing mangroves.
U.S. firm Air Products & Chemicals Inc. signed an accord in July with Saudi-based ACWA Power International and the kingdom’s planned futuristic city of Neom to develop a $5 billion hydrogen-based ammonia plant powered by renewable energy.