India can intercept and destroy objects in Space, say Dr Abdul Kalam and Dr VK Saraswat

Hyderabad: India has the requisite capabilities to identify, and target, satellites and other objects in Space, according to the nation's ex-president and also father of India's missile programme, Dr APJ Abdul Kalam. Queried by the media if India could deploy same capabilities as the US when faced with similar eventualities, as when they destroyed a satellite in Space last week, Dr Kalam replied in the affirmative.

Talking to the media on the sidelines of a two-day International Conference on Avionics Systems (ICAS-2008) here, Dr Kalam said, ''We have the ability to intercept and destroy any spatial object or debris in a radius of 200 km. We will definitely do that if it endangers Indian territory.''

Dr VK Saraswat, chief controller, R&D (MSS), the man associated with India's ballistic missile defence system agreed with Dr Kalam's assessment. ''We have the technological capabilities. It is just a matter of time before we could place the necessary wherewithal to meet such requirements,'' he said.

''We can predict and can always tackle such challenges,'' he said.