India has capability to destroy assets of other countries in space if they play any mischief: Former DRDO chief

Former DRDO Chief Controller and Research Development, W Selvamurthy on Wednesday lauded the organisation for the successful test of India's first anti-satellite weapon - A-SAT. He said India has the capability to destroy assets of other countries in space if they play any mischief.

"It's a great accomplishment for the country. Thanks to the central government which supported the whole event as well as whole Mission Shakti. I also congratulate the staff of DRDO. I have been a part of DRDO for 40 years," Selvamurthy told ANI here.

"So, it's a great moment of joy and satisfaction for me as a scientist of DRDO and as a citizen of India that today we made a remarkable achievement, demonstrated the capability of an anti-satellite missile developed by DRDO. Today it was launched successfully. All the mission parameters went very accurately. The mission was perfect," he said.

"India will be joining the Elite club of three superpowers today i.e. US, Russia and China. India will be the fourth country to join the Elite club... Today we have our own satellites. So, you need to prove to the countries that we have this capability. So, if you play any mischief then we have the capability to retaliate and destroy your assets in space.

Anti-satellite weapons or A-SAT are space weapons designed to incapacitate or destroy satellites for strategic military purposes. Although no A-SAT system has yet been utilised in warfare, a few nations have shot down their own (defunct) satellites to demonstrate their A-SAT capabilities in a show of force. Before India successfully tested A-SAT weapon, US, Russia, and China have demonstrated this capability successfully.