New Delhi: With the successful anti-satellite missile test, India is capable of hitting a target at a range of over 1,000 km in space and a lower orbit was chosen for the mission to avoid threat of debris to global space assets, DRDO Chairman G Satheesh Reddy said Saturday. Asked if multiple satellite targets can be hit, he said, “It is a question of how many launchers we have, and with multiple launchers, one can have multiple engagements. But, multiple (targets) is definitely feasible.”
India shot down one of its satellites in space on March 27 with an anti-satellite (A-SAT) missile to demonstrate this complex capability, joining the elite club of countries — the US, Russia and China — which have such capabilities. Reddy was addressing the Press at Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) Bhawan Delhi. “An orbit of 300 km was chosen for the test for capability demonstration and the purpose was to avoid threat of debris to global space assets.” His remarks come days after NASA raised concerns about the spread of debris from India’s A-SAT test under Mission Shakti. “The debris created following the intercept will decay in weeks. For a similar application we don’t need another test.”