Defence & security
Defence & security — exercises, acquisitions, deployments
12 min read · Updated 2026-08-03
What is the Chief of Defence Staff?
The Chief of Defence Staff is India's four-star, tri-service single point of military advice to the government, a post recommended by the Kargil Review Committee of 1999 and filled for the first time on 1 January 2020. The CDS is Permanent Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee and Secretary of the Department of Military Affairs in the Ministry of Defence, and drives the move to integrated theatre commands.
The story
29 August 2024, 7:25 AM, off Visakhapatnam, the Bay of Bengal. INS Arighaat — India's second nuclear-powered ballistic-missile submarine (SSBN) — is formally commissioned into the Indian Navy by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh. 6,000 tonnes submerged; 12 launch tubes for the K-15 Sagarika and (eventually) K-4 SLBMs; pressurised water reactor; can operate underwater "indefinitely". The commissioning completes India's nuclear triad — land, air, sea — that the country has officially declared since 2003 but operationalised only with INS Arihant (2016) and now Arighaat.
Twelve days later, on 10 September 2024, the first Tejas Mk-1A rolled off the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) assembly line in Nasik. The IAF has placed an order for 97 more Tejas Mk-1A (₹65,000 crore) on top of the 83 of February 2021. By 2030, Tejas should replace the ageing MiG-21 "flying coffins" entirely.
Defence current affairs is about exercises (signals strength), acquisitions (capability gaps closed), deployments (theatres of presence), and doctrines (how we plan to fight). Track it.
Why this matters for UPSC
Defence is a 1-2 Prelims stream every cycle (joint exercises, recently inducted platforms, command structures) and a GS-III internal security + GS-II foreign affairs Mains anchor. Interview boards routinely ask one defence-policy probe ("Should women be allowed in combat? What's your take on theatre commands?"). High-yield items: exercises, acquisitions, command restructure, missile tests, nuclear doctrine.