 Hello and welcome to NewsClick. Today, we are joined by defence analyst D. Raghunandan. To discuss today's announcement made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the anti-satellite mission that was carried out, which, according to Mr. Modi, has made India into a space superpower. So welcome, Raghunandan. Firstly, I would like to ask you that there has been some sort of confusion, some amount of confusion that has been created post Modi's announcement about the kind of satellite that was shot down, because Modi in his speech said that this was a peaceful test operation, but there have been media statements and statements made by ministers which are saying that this was some sort of spy satellite. So can you offer some clarity on this? It's very simple. This is an anti-satellite missile test by India. There is no way India would have tested this weapon against a satellite belonging to any other country. It has to be one of our own satellites and obviously also it would have to be a satellite which is still in orbit, but which is not serving any other practical function. Otherwise, you are just bringing down a useful satellite. So they would have brought down one of the satellites which has outlived its primary function, but which is still in orbit so that it becomes a suitable target. So why this sort of confusion? Absolutely no idea. And also this is being presented as a major technological achievement. So how difficult is it to carry out such kind of an operation? Two things about that need to be kept in mind. It's correct that India is the fourth country after the US, Russia and China to have achieved this. But equally, India is the fourth or fifth country if you include the Europeans to achieve space-faring abilities. So one thing goes with the other. You need to have a launch vehicle which has sufficient range to reach low earth orbit and because these are targeted missiles aiming to destroy an object somewhere in space, they are very similar to anti-missile missiles, missiles which are designed to shoot down missiles. And there is again only a handful of countries who have that capability. So this is part of the same process and judging by the height which India is said to have achieved, the PM's announcement said we have shot down a satellite at 300 kilometers altitude. I think any of the Agni medium range missiles, a family of that rocket system would have been used for this ASAT as well because the rough altitude range is about right. The US ASAT weapons and the Chinese ASAT weapons have slightly higher altitude capabilities of between 550 to 800 kilometers. It doesn't matter too much. So like you said, this is being portrayed as a major achievement of the BJP government, but an anti-satellite program was actually started during the UPA tenure. And as you pointed out, the Agni missiles in 2012 itself, the then DRDO chief Dr. Vijay Kumar had said that after Agni Fai's launch, India had all the building blocks in place for an anti-satellite mission. So what do you make of all of this? So Prime Minister Modi has been, shall I say, very fortunate in having been Prime Minister at a time when several space programs of India have achieved fruition, but which was started about a decade or so ago. And if you remember some time ago, India had the successful Mangalyan launch to Mars, which also happened during his tenure, but which had been started by an earlier, during the term of an earlier government. The fact is agencies like ISRO and the three services which were involved in this have been carrying out this mission or this program over the past close to a decade. China successfully conducted its first anti-satellite test in 2007. And roughly just a month after that, India, which had been particularly concerned about this new Chinese capability, announced that it would also start a similar program, which was formally launched in 2010. And as you said, V.K. Saraswath, who was then the coordinator of this program and who is now a member of the Niti IO, made the declaration, the formal program was launched, which consists of ISRO and the three services. So, are there any other international implications of this test being carried out? There are three important implications, I think. The first is the fact and Prime Minister Modi has also underlined this in his announcement, saying that this test is not aimed at any other country. He reiterated India's commitment to oppose the weaponization of space and reiterated India's commitment to all international treaties. And this is an important declaration to make because there is bound to be international concern at this new capability by India. There was a time when the other space powers were actively considering and acting a multilateral agreement, somewhat akin to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which would have said, henceforth no country will start an anti-satellite program. This test has now pre-empted that at least as far as India is concerned. But India will still need to reassure other countries that it does not mean to weaponize space, that it is not aimed at any other country. And I think ruling party spokespersons and spokespersons of the BJP Parivar, the wider Parivar, in their public statements would be well advised to tone down their jingoistic and militaristic chess thumping, which they have been doing because that will only cause disquiet in the international community. The second implication is with regard to space debris. When any country blows up a satellite, it will result in a thousand pieces floating around in space. When China in fact blew up its first satellite, it resulted in about 2,500 to 3,000 pieces of debris in space, some of which were believed to have resulted in damage to and destruction of a Russian satellite. So this is something that India needs to be very worried about. India is a signatory to a multilateral agreement which aims to protect space from space debris and we need to work on as well as convince the international community of adopting Indian best practices to make sure that any tests or actions of this kind do not result in space debris which poses a problem to others. And lastly of course, the goal of keeping space free of weapons is of paramount importance that India does not take the next step, which is actually to mount a permanent station in space which would then be used to target missiles. I hope we don't go that far. Thank you Raghu for joining us today and thank you for watching NewsClick.