What's the NEWS
• The Bhutan government has decided to send the bill for ratification of the Bangladesh-Bhutan-India-Nepal (BBIN) initiative for road and rail connectivity to its upper senate.

Know! more about Bangladesh-Bhutan-India-Nepal initiative

• The BBIN is a big initiative in the region, which is aimed at improving rail and road connectivity in the region.

• The agreement for the initiative - the BBIN Motor Vehicle Agreement -was signed by the four member nations in June 2015.

• However, only Bangladesh, India and Nepal have implemented the agreement, Bhutan is yet to accord its ratification of the agreement.

Know! about the Motor Vehicle Agreement

• The landmark MVA was signed by the transport ministers of the BBIN countries in Thimphu, Bhutan on June 15, 2015.

• The trial runs for cargo vehicles under the MVA were conducted along the Kolkata-Dhaka-Agartala and Delhi-Kolkata-Dhaka routes in the past. The trials were successful in establishing the Agreement's economic benefits.

• Bangladesh, India, and Nepal ratified the pact and agreed to start its implementation among the three signatory countries, with Bhutan joining after it ratifies the agreement.

• Under the BBIN Motor Vehicles Agreement, Bangladesh, India and Nepal agreed on the text of the passenger protocol, the document detailing procedures for cross-border movement of buses and private vehicles in the sub-region.

• The nations completed the internal approval processes for the signing of the passenger protocol.

• The participating countries also agreed to conduct more trial runs for cargo vehicles along scheduled routes from April 2018 onwards, before finalizing the protocol for cargo vehicular movement.

• The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has been providing technical, advisory, and financial support to the BBIN MVA initiative as part of its assistance to the South Asia Sub-regional Economic Cooperation (SASEC) program, which is a project-based economic cooperation initiative that brings together the BBIN countries as well as Maldives, Sri Lanka and Myanmar.

Defence
Indian Navy launches 'Virtual Reality Centre' to boost warship design capabilities
Relevance IN - Prelims ( about Virtual reality centre) 

What's the NEWS
• The Indian Navy has inaugurated the state-of-the-art Virtual Reality Centre (VRC) at the Directorate of Naval Design (Surface Ship Group).

• From conceptualisation of design to execution of the project, everything was managed by the Directorate of Naval Design.

Know! all about the virtual reality centre
• This centre is expected to provide major boost to the indigenous warship design capabilities of Indian Navy. It will provide impetus to self-reliance.

• This project will facilitate joint design reviews for continuous interaction between the designers and the end users to improve design and ergonomics onboard warships.

• It will boost the warship construction under the "Make in India" initiative of the Union Government.

Directorate of Naval Design (Surface Ship Group)
• The Directorate of Naval Design (Surface Ship Group) was instituted in 1960s and since then has made major contributions towards indigenous warship design capabilities of the Indian Navy, thus, improving self-reliance for warship design and construction.

• The organisation has successfully developed 19 warship designs on which more than 90 platforms have been constructed till date.

India Successfully Test Fires 1,000-km Range Sub-Sonic Cruise Missile Nirbhay off Odisha Coast

Relevance IN - Prelims ( about Nirbhay missile)

What's the NEWS
• India successfully test-fired its first indigenously designed and developed long-range sub-sonic cruise missile ‘Nirbhay' from a test range in Odisha.

Know! more about Nirbhay and the trail
• The state-of-the-art missile, which can be deployed from multiple platforms, was test-fired from launch complex-3 of the Integrated Test Range at Chandipur near here, sources in the Defence Research and Development Organisation said.

• Describing the trial "successful", they said the missile, which is capable of loitering and cruising at 0.7 Mach at altitude as low as 100 metres, covered the designated target range in 42 minutes and 23 seconds.

• The last successful trial of the missile was conducted on November 7, 2017.

• Indigenously developed by the Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO), the Nirbhay missile can carry warheads of up to 300 kg

• It can travel with a turbofan or turbojet engine and is guided by a highly advanced inertial navigation system.

Know! about cruise missile
• A low-flying missile which is guided to its target by an on-board computer.
• A cruise missile is a guided missile used against terrestrial targets that remains in the atmosphere and flies the major portion of its flight path at approximately constant speed. 
• Cruise missiles are designed to deliver a large warhead over long distances with high precision. 
• Modern cruise missiles are capable of travelling at supersonic or high subsonic speeds, are self-navigating, and are able to fly on a non-ballistic, extremely low-altitude trajectory.

Know! about Ballistic Missile:
• The ballistic missile is targeted as a projectile from a single launch force with not much-added guidance.
• It is launched directly into the high layers of the earth's atmosphere.

• It travels well outside the atmosphere and then the warhead detaches and falls back to earth. It follows the path of a ball thrown upwards which falls down.

• Since it depends on gravity to reach its target, it's called a ballistic missile.
• Ballistic missiles that fly above the atmosphere have a much longer range than would be possible for cruise missiles of the same size.
• Ballistic missiles can travel extremely quickly along their flight path. An ICBM can strike a target within a 10,000 km range in about 30 to 35 minutes.
• With terminal speeds of over 5,000 m/s, ballistic missiles are much harder to intercept than cruise missiles, due to the much shorter time available.
• Ballistic missiles are some of the most feared weapons available, despite the fact that cruise missiles are cheaper, more mobile, and more versatile.


Space Awareness
Cabinet Nod To GSLV Phase-4 Continuation Programme Consisting 5 Rockets
The phase four will enable the launch of two-tonne class of satellites for geo-imaging, navigation, data relay communication and space sciences
Relevance IN - Prelims ( about GSLV - Phase 4 and GSLV )

What's the NEWS
• The Union Cabinet has approved five more GSLV satellite launch vehicles for the period 2021-24 under the next phase 4 of the ongoing GSLV continuation programme.

• One of them could be used for the second Mars mission which is being considered.

Know! more about the third phase of the programme

• Sanctioned in 2003, the programme is currently in its third phase. The allocation of ₹2729.13 crore includes the cost of the launchers, augmentation of the facilities, programme management, and launch campaign, a statement said.

• The Indian Space Research Organisation uses the GSLV, the second of its three launchers, to put 2,000-kg class of communication and other satellites to a GEO (or geosynchronous) orbit about 36,000 km away.

• The GSLV Continuation Programme - Phase 4 will meet the launch requirement of satellites for providing critical satellite navigation services, data relay communication for supporting the Indian Human Spaceflight Programme and the next interplanetary mission to Mars.

Prelims Practise Questions

Consider the following statements

1. The world bank has been providing technical, advisory, and financial support to the BBIN MVA initiative as part of its assistance to the South Asia Sub-regional Economic Cooperation (SASEC) program

2. The BBIN is a big initiative in the region, which is aimed at improving rail and road connectivity in the region.

3. The agreement for the initiative - the BBIN Motor Vehicle Agreement -was signed and ratified by all the four member nations in June 2015.
Find the correct statement from the options given below
a. 2 only 
b. 1 and 3
c. 1 and 2
d. All

Consider the following statements

1. A cruise missile is a guided missile used against terrestrial targets that remains in the atmosphere and flies the major portion of its flight path at approximately constant speed.

2. The ballistic missile is targeted as a projectile from a single launch force with not much-added guidance. It is launched directly into the high layers of the earth's atmosphere.

Find the correct statement from the option given below
a. 1 only 
b. 2 only
c. Both 
d. None

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