UPSC Prelims 2018 · Question 43 of 99
UPSC Prelims 2018 question on THAAD Missile Defence
- ExamUPSC CSE
- Year2018
- PaperGeneral Studies Paper I
- SubjectScience and Technology
- TopicDefence Technology
- DifficultyMedium
- TypeDirect
What is 'Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD)', sometimes seen in the news?
Show answer
Answer: C. An American anti-missile system
Analysis
THAAD is an American anti-missile system, so the answer is (c).
The Terminal High Altitude Area Defence is a United States missile defence system designed to intercept and destroy short and medium range ballistic missiles in their final flight phase. It was first proposed in 1987 and deployed in 2008. It is purely defensive and cannot be used to attack an enemy.
Option (a) is the closest distractor, since Israel does operate well known missile defence systems, but THAAD is not one of them and it is a full interceptor system rather than a radar. Option (b) would have been right only if the question named India's own ballistic missile defence programme.
Source
The Hindu report on US west coast missile defence sites, and Indian Express explainer on THAAD.
How to crack it
Expand the acronym before choosing. Terminal High Altitude Area Defence describes a function, interception in the terminal phase at high altitude, which already rules out calling it a radar and rules out an offensive programme. When a defence acronym appears in the news, note the country, whether the system is offensive or defensive, and the flight phase it targets, because those three attributes are exactly what the distractors scramble.
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