India can pat itself on its back for successfully testing an anti-satellite, three-stage interceptor (A-Sat) missile, with the capability to destroy a satellite in space from the A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Island off Odisha coast, thereby gate-crashing into the super-exclusive club of nations – the U.S., Russia and China, who boast of having demonstrated this deadly capability, all on the basis of its indigenous technology. Israel is the only other country believed to have this capability but has not demonstrated it so far.
The news of the brilliant execution of “Mission Shakti,” with technological, strategic and political implications, as announced in a televised address by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is the fruit of two years of sheer preparation, simulation, and six months of mission mode by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) that received the go ahead for the Ballistic Missile Defence (BMD) program by the current NDA government despite having the “building blocks” for A-SAT capability through spin-offs from the over 5,000-km Agni-V strategic missile and the two-tier BMD programs for several years as it was on a self-imposed moratorium, under the Congress-led UPA – I & II governments, following the global condemnation of China’s first A-Sat test in 2007.
But with the 2007 shock New Delhi experienced a transformation in its ideas on proliferation that eventually gave way to a desire to pave way to tackle threats to its space assets that involved huge resources to develop and place them in space.
It may therefore be safe to conclude that the mission was a well thought out and carefully crafted program and as DRDO Chief Satheesh Reddy reveals with utmost pride, “The BMD program met all technical parameters and objectives in LEO or lower atmosphere, within 300 kilometres altitude even though it can go up to 1,000 km, to ensure the space debris decays and falls back to earth,” thus allaying concerns of “creating a mess of waste in space” as alleged by some.
Mission Shakti, a three stage missile with two solid rocket boosters, was set at a velocity of around 10 km per second on a direct-ascent kinetic kill, targeted to hit Microsat-R launched on Jan. 24.
Strategically, this “satellite killer” is a plus for India in its plethora of deterrence and defence capabilities as it imparts an ability significantly required in the given circumstances of India that is not in a benign environment and is sandwiched between Pakistan, terror-exporting state on its west and China with a much advanced ASAT and sturdy programs for kinetic and directed-energy laser weapons and nano-satellites in the north and north-east, and the U.S. under the Trump administration withdrawing from the world, rather “leading from behind”,and hence posing the immediacy of transition of powers more so in Asia and outside.
Emphasising on the reasons for India embarking on this space program Modi asserted, “Today, we are using space and satellites for all sorts of purposes, including agriculture, defensive, disaster management, communication, entertainment, weather, navigation, education, medical uses, and other things. In such a situation, the security of these satellites is extremely important.
Source :- .indiandefensenews.in
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