Daily Current Affairs for UPSC, IAS, UPPSC/UPPCS, BPSC, MPPSC, RPSC and All State PCS Examinations

Predator B and Sea Guardian Drones

Why in NEWS?

• China's provocative actions in Ladakh and its latest plan to supply drones to Pakistan have prompted India to convey to the US its renewed interest in the medium-altitude long-endurance (MALE) armed Predator-B drone.

What are predator drones and Sea Guardian Drones?

• Named as “MQ-9 Reaper” by US Air Force and Royal Air Force customers, the Predator B is a Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA) or unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV).
• It is capable of remotely controlled or autonomous flight operations. According to the US Air Force, the MQ-9 Reaper is an “armed, multi-mission, medium altitude, long-endurance” aircraft primarily designed for offensive strikes.
• The Predator-B drone is known to collect intelligence through surveillance and reconnaissance and can also destroy the target with missiles or laser-guided bombs.
• The Sea Guardian, built by US firm General Atomics, is the naval version of the legendary Predator B armed drone.

About

• Reportedly, US regard India as a “major defence partner” which has been a major factor in this sale.
• India is the first non-NATO country to which Washington had agreed to export the Sea Guardian.
• Procurement of Predator ‘B’ Sea Guardian is being progressed under Buy (Global) category [of the Defence Procurement Procedure of 2016] and no transfer of technology is envisaged.

Suspected Case of Bubonic Plague in China's Inner Mongolia

IN NEWS

• In the Chinese region of inner Mongolia, a city is on high alert. They identified the suspected case of a disease that has persisted centuries after it caused the most deadly pandemic in human history -- the bubonic plague.

ABOUT

• Bubonic plague is one of three types of plague caused by bacterium Yersinia pestis. One to seven days after exposure to the bacteria, flu-like symptoms develop. These symptoms include fever, headaches, and vomiting. Swollen and painful lymph nodes occur in the area closest to where the bacteria entered the skin. Occasionally, the swollen lymph nodes may break open.
• Yersinia pestis is a gram-negative, non-motile, rod-shaped, coccobacillus bacterium, with no spores. It is a facultative anaerobic organism that can infect humans via the Oriental rat flea .It causes the disease plague, which takes three main forms: pneumonic, septicemic, and bubonic.
• Plague, caused by bacteria and transmitted through flea bites and infected animals, killed an estimated 50 million people in Europe during the Black Death pandemic in the Middle Ages.

COULD THERE BE ANOTHER EPIDEMIC?

• Bubonic cases are rare, but there are still a few flare-ups of the disease from time to time. Madagascar saw more than 300 cases during an outbreak in 2017.
• In May last year, two people in the country of Mongolia died from the plague, which they contacted after eating the raw meat of a marmot .However, it's unlikely any cases will lead to an epidemic.