India Successfully Tests An Anti-Satellite Missile: A Prelude To A Gene Roddenberry Style Sino-Indian War?

With Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s announcement of a successful ant-satellite missile test as an “anti-China measure”, will this be a prelude to a Gene Roddenberry style Sino-Indian War?

By: Ringo Bones

During his national address back in Wednesday, March 28, 2019, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that the country has successfully shot down its own low-orbit satellite with a missile that now puts India in the league of global “space powers”. Prime Minister Modi said India had achieved a “historic feat” by shooting down its own low-orbit satellite with a ground-to-space missile in three minutes. Would it be also a matter of time before a “genetically-engineered” Khan Noonien Singh like figure would soon arise too in India? Historic feat indeed because when the United States successfully tested the ASM-135 Anti-Satellite Missile back in September 13, 1985, it took over 20 years to perform the same feat – i.e. The People’s Republic of China when they successfully tested their own anti-satellite missile system back in January 11, 2007 and Russia only recently succeeded in doing the same back in November 18, 2015.

The test comes two weeks before polling begins in general elections and Prime Minister Modi is seeking a second term in power after a landslide victory in 2014. The test was largely termed as an ant-China measure according to Bharat Karnad, a security expert with the Indian think tank the Center of Policy Research. And given that almost all of Pakistan’s latest military satellites are launched with technical assistance from The People’s Republic of China, it seems that India’s latest successful ant-satellite missile test could be perceived as payback for the country’s defeat during the 1962 Sino-Indian War.

Even though India already possess missiles capable of downing satellites in low-Earth orbit since 2012, the recent success of Mission Shakti – Shakti stands for power in Hindi – as India’s foremost anti-satellite weapons system would defend the country’s interest in space. India’s latest space capabilities seem inevitable because the country’s space program has grown substantially over the past decade. In 2014, the nation managed to put a satellite into orbit around the planet Mars and the Indian Space Organization has announced that it will send a manned mission into space in the next three years.