UPSC Prelims Practice Questions — Quad announces maritime plans amid Hormuz crisis
Q1. The 'Tsunami Core Group' of 2004, widely regarded as a precursor to the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, was composed of how many countries?
- A. Three
- B. Four
- C. Five
- D. Six
Q2. Which one of the following best describes the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad)?
- A. An informal strategic dialogue among India, the United States, Japan and Australia, without a founding treaty or permanent secretariat
- B. A collective defence alliance obliging its four members to mutual military assistance under a binding treaty
- C. A sub-regional economic bloc established within the ASEAN framework
- D. A United Nations regional body constituted to administer the Indo-Pacific maritime commons
Q3. In the context of the 11th Quad Foreign Ministers' Meeting (2026), the 'Quad-at-Sea Ship Observer Mission' refers to which one of the following?
- A. A mission embedding observers from the Quad partners aboard partner vessels to build interoperability against unlawful maritime activity
- B. A combined naval combat exercise in which the four navies practise anti-submarine warfare
- C. A standing joint carrier battle group permanently stationed in the Indian Ocean
- D. A satellite constellation jointly launched by the Quad to monitor shipping lanes
Q4. The 11th Quad Foreign Ministers' Meeting held in New Delhi in 2026 was hosted and convened on the Indian side by which one of the following ministries?
- A. Ministry of External Affairs
- B. Ministry of Defence
- C. Ministry of Home Affairs
- D. Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways
Q5. The Indo-Pacific Partnership for Maritime Domain Awareness (IPMDA) is best described as which one of the following?
- A. An initiative using commercial satellite data to give partner states near-real-time maritime tracking, notably to counter 'dark shipping'
- B. A naval blockade mechanism authorising Quad navies to interdict vessels in disputed waters
- C. A subsidy programme to modernise the fishing fleets of Indo-Pacific island states
- D. A joint aircraft-carrier fleet operated in rotation by the four Quad members
Q6. IPMDA fuses maritime data drawn from regional information-fusion centres located in India, Singapore, the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu. How many such regional fusion centres does this represent?
- A. Two
- B. Three
- C. Four
- D. Six
Q7. With reference to the Indo-Pacific Maritime Surveillance Collaboration (IPMSC) launched in 2026 as compared with the earlier IPMDA, consider the following statements:
1. IPMSC's initial geographic focus is the Indian Ocean Region.
2. IPMSC draws on the Quad members' own national maritime surveillance assets.
3. IPMSC completely replaces IPMDA, which was discontinued at the 2026 meeting.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
- IPMSC's initial geographic focus is the Indian Ocean Region.
- IPMSC draws on the Quad members' own national maritime surveillance assets.
- IPMSC completely replaces IPMDA, which was discontinued at the 2026 meeting.
- A. 1 only
- B. 1 and 2 only
- C. 2 and 3 only
- D. 1, 2 and 3
Q8. The Indo-Pacific Maritime Surveillance Collaboration (IPMSC) announced by the Quad in 2026 is best defined as which one of the following?
- A. An arrangement pooling the Quad members' maritime surveillance capabilities to enhance domain awareness, initially focused on the Indian Ocean Region
- B. A treaty that permanently and irreversibly merges the four members' naval surveillance commands into a single force
- C. A commercial satellite company jointly incorporated by the four members to sell tracking data
- D. A United Nations monitoring mission deployed exclusively to police the Strait of Hormuz
Q9. With reference to the Strait of Hormuz, consider the following statements:
1. It connects the Persian Gulf with the Gulf of Oman.
2. It lies between Iran to the north and Oman to the south.
3. It connects the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden.
4. Roughly one-fifth of global petroleum liquids consumption transits through it.
Which of the statements given above is/are NOT correct?
- It connects the Persian Gulf with the Gulf of Oman.
- It lies between Iran to the north and Oman to the south.
- It connects the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden.
- Roughly one-fifth of global petroleum liquids consumption transits through it.
- A. 1 and 3
- B. 2 and 4
- C. 3 only
- D. 1, 2 and 4
Q10. The Quad's insistence on 'free and safe navigation' through the Strait of Hormuz draws principally on the freedom of navigation regime codified under which one of the following?
- A. The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), 1982
- B. The Chicago Convention on International Civil Aviation, 1944
- C. The Montreux Convention on the Turkish Straits, 1936
- D. The Geneva Conventions, 1949
Q11. Consider the following pairings of a Quad meeting with its host location:
1. 2022 Quad Leaders' Summit — Tokyo
2. 2024 Quad Leaders' Summit — Wilmington (USA)
3. First in-person Quad Leaders' Summit (2021) — Washington
4. 2024 Quad Foreign Ministers' Meeting — New Delhi
Which of the pairings given above is/are NOT correctly matched?
- 2022 Quad Leaders' Summit — Tokyo
- 2024 Quad Leaders' Summit — Wilmington (USA)
- First in-person Quad Leaders' Summit (2021) — Washington
- 2024 Quad Foreign Ministers' Meeting — New Delhi
- A. 1 and 3
- B. 2 only
- C. 4 only
- D. 3 and 4
Q12. Apart from the Strait of Hormuz, which single contested maritime waterway was highlighted as the principal focus of the Quad's freedom-of-navigation concerns at the 2026 New Delhi meeting?
- A. South China Sea
- B. East China Sea
- C. Taiwan Strait
- D. Bay of Bengal