India too can hit objects in space: Kalam

February 23, 2008
By Syed Akbar
Hyderabad, Feb 22: India has acquired the capability to hit foreign objects including space debris to protect its territory.
"We are capable of hitting foreign objects at a height of 200 km from the ground. When some object enters the Indian territory, it is our right to hit it and protect the country and its people. We have acquired the capability," missile man and former president APJ Abdul Kalam said.
Dr Kalam's statement gains significance in the backdrop of the United States of America shooting down its rogue spy satellite carrying dangerous toxic fuel. It has demonstrated the USA's effectiveness of missile defence system. India too is capable of protecting its territory from such foreign objects or rogue satellites.
India will, however, utilise the technology for peaceful purpose, though developed nations are vying with one another for militarisation of outer space.

Interacting with a select group of reporters after inaugurating the International Conference on Avionics System - 2008, at Research Centre Imarat here on Friday, Dr Kalam said the recent success of the DRDO in the launch of interceptor missile and Agni-III had taken India into the elite club of a few developed nations.
"The demonstration of air defence mission to intercept incoming ballistic missiles in both endo and exo atmospheric region propelled the country into a very select group of nations having such capability," he said adding that India's air defence programme has established several critical technologies including long range radar detection and tracking.
Earlier, Dr Kalam told defence scientists from various parts of the world that intercepting and destroying a flying and manoeuvring supersonic air target was a big challenge, especially if the attack was a surprise one and aided by jamming systems. "When the Akash surface to air missile system was being recently tested by the Air Force, they had demanded intercepting on air target by a ripple of two missiles.
This is to ensure hit probability of more than 99 per cent. The onboard avionics systems worked in unison for taking the missile close to the target within 35 metres. While the first missile exploded near the target, the second missile had to explode near debris of the first missile, which itself became the target for the second missile," he said.
Stating that the DRDO has developed an operationalised state of the art electronic warfare system such as Tempest, Samyukta and Sangraha, he emphasised the need to have built in facilities for active cyber warfare, so as to make the adversary systems ineffective by way of denial of service.
Dr Kalam said India was now moving towards micro and non sensor technology realise systems weighing a few grams. "We are for miniaturisation of missiles so that they could be mounted on aircraft," he said.