With reference to "FWD 200B", which of the following statements is/are correct ?
1. This is India's first indigenous bomber “UAV” aircraft.
2. Its payload capacity is 100 kgs.
Select the correct answe

Question

With reference to "FWD 200B", which of the following statements is/are correct ?
1. This is India's first indigenous bomber “UAV” aircraft.
2. Its payload capacity is 100 kgs.
Select the correct answer from the codes given below :

UnlockIAS · Accepted Answer

Correct — D, Both 1 and 2. The FWD-200B is an unmanned combat aerial vehicle unveiled on 3 May 2024 by Flying Wedge Defence and Aerospace Technologies, a Bengaluru firm, and it was presented — and reported — as India's first indigenously developed bomber UAV, that is, the first Indian-designed drone built to carry and release precision air-to-ground munitions rather than only to watch. Statement 1 therefore stands. Statement 2 also stands: its payload capacity is 100 kg, made up of optical surveillance payloads together with the munitions it can deliver. Both statements being accurate, the key marks (d). Anchor this to the exam date of 22 December 2024 — at that point the aircraft had been unveiled and was in flight testing, with a maiden flight reported later in 2024, so treat the entry as a development-stage milestone rather than as an inducted service platform.

Why the other options are wrong — (a) Accepts the payload figure but rejects the 'first indigenous bomber UAV' description, which is in fact how the aircraft was announced and reported. It is a genuine claim about the design category — an Indian-developed UAV meant to deliver air-to-ground munitions and return — not a piece of marketing that the question has planted as a falsifier.  (b) Rejects both statements when both are correct. Nothing in the question is falsified: the descriptor and the payload figure are exactly as recorded, so this option would only be chosen by a candidate who has not encountered the aircraft at all and is defaulting to the safest-looking code.  (c) Accepts the description but doubts the number, and the number is the correct one — the FWD-200B's stated payload capacity is 100 kg. This is the standard reflex of assuming that whichever statement carries a figure must be the falsified one; here the examiner did not falsify anything, which is itself the trap.

Concept: An unmanned aerial vehicle carries no pilot on board; when it is also armed and used to strike, it is called an unmanned combat aerial vehicle. UAVs are classified by endurance and altitude — the MALE class, medium-altitude long-endurance, is the workhorse category for surveillance and armed missions. India has long imported that class or relied on Israeli platforms, and its indigenous effort has centred on DRDO's TAPAS-BH programme, a MALE UAV built for surveillance. The FWD-200B matters as a category first and as a structural first: an armed, bomb-carrying UAV designed and built in India, and built by a private start-up rather than by a defence public sector undertaking or a DRDO laboratory.

State PCS 2024 Q110 — Current Affairs PYQ with Answer

State PCS 2024 Q110 — Current Affairs PYQ with Answer