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UPSC Prelims 2026 GS Paper 1, question 47

Topic: Science and technology

Q47

Which of the following statements with regard to drone swarms is/are correct ?

  1. They use Terahertz band of frequency to communicate with the command centre.

  2. Individual drones in the swarm can communicate with other drones in the swarm.

  3. GPS Spoofing is a commonly used technique to counter drone swarm attack.

Select the answer using the code given below :

  1. (a) 1 only
  2. (b) 2 and 3 onlyCorrect answer
  3. (c) 1 and 2 only
  4. (d) 1, 2 and 3

Solution.

Answer: (b) 2 and 3 only

  1. Statement 1 is incorrect: operational drone swarms communicate using RF, UHF, S-band, C-band, or 5G links; Terahertz (THz) frequencies suffer severe atmospheric attenuation and have extremely short range, making them unsuitable for command-centre links.
  2. Statement 2 is correct: a defining feature of a drone swarm is decentralized inter-drone (mesh) communication for coordinated path planning and target allocation.
  3. Statement 3 is correct: GPS/GNSS spoofing (broadcasting false satellite navigation coordinates) is a standard electronic warfare countermeasure to disrupt autonomous drone swarms.