New Delhi: “The debris will decay in a few weeks. That’s how the whole mission was planned,” said Defence and Research Development Organisation (DRDO) Chairman G Satheesh Reddy assuring about India’s A-SAT test.
Amidst the ongoing concerns about the mission affecting global space assets and the International Space Station (ISS), the DRDO chief said that the resulting fragments will decay in a few weeks and there would be no threat to the ISS as the location for the test was carried out well away from it.
Speaking at the Vivekananda International Foundation, a think-tank, he noted that the A-SAT test was an exemplary effort by India and it reflected India’s indigenous defence technology.
The DRDO chief further informed that more than 50 industries participated in the mission contributing 200 components to make the mission which was carried out on 27 March a success.
It was a ground-launched anti-satellite (A-SAT) missile to demonstrate this complex capability and thus India joined the elite club of countries – the US, Russia and China – which have such capabilities.
The A-SAT test was successfully conducted with a new interceptor missile against a live orbiting satellite in the Low Earth Orbit (LEO) in a hit-to-kill mode.
Reddy also spoke about how India has to become self-sufficient in areas like making bulletproof jackets to manufacturing composite materials and that DRDO is also focussing on small arms like carbines.
“Not much has happened in the area of small arms. We have taken this up very seriously. Based on the RFP (Request for Proposal) floated by the armed forces, we have started developing some of them. Some have gone through trials,” Reddy said. Elaborating on the Pinaka multi-barrel rocket launcher, he said it has been converted into a ‘guided Pinaka‘ with an extended range. It is, he said, in the process of induction into the Army.