What the f**k is going on? Ex-US intel officer recalls India's ASAT missile test
Around 28 years ago, India caught the US off guard when it conducted a series of underground nuclear tests, known as Pokhran II, establishing it as a nuclear power. Decades later, in 2019, India pulled off another surprise by carrying out an anti-satellite (ASAT) missile test, known as Mission Shakti. Now, a former US intel officer has revealed how the ASAT test stunned America and sparked panic.
In a candid interview with podcaster Joe Rogan, David Grusch, a former US Air Force intel officer, recalled the moment India conducted the surprise anti-satellite missile test on March 27, 2019. Grusch was then on duty at the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) operations centre.
"It is a crazy story... There was an unexpected Indian missile test that hit one of their satellites in 2019," he said. "And they didn't tell us," he further said.WHAT EX-US SPY SAID ON INDIA'S ASAT TEST?
India had issued a NOTAM (notice to airmen) off the Odisha coast, meaning the US was aware that a missile would be tested. However, it never anticipated it would be an ASAT missile, which was kept secret.
In fact, India and the rest of the world had no inkling of it until Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced it in an early morning national address.
The target was a defunct satellite, Microsat-R. It made India only the fourth country after the US, Russia and China with the strategic capability to hit and destroy satellites.
Grusch recounted the frantic scenes at the NRO after the test caught the US intelligence community by surprise. The panic was real, as Grusch was not only the NRO's backup director of intelligence, but was also handling the US President's daily brief for the director.
"I remember in my office, I had like all these different phones. I am like calling the embassy, all this. I am like, what the f**k?" he said.
The NRO builds and operates America's spy satellites. The immediate concern for the US was the debris created by the destruction of the satellite.
"We were worried at the NRO about the debris, because we fly spy satellites," Grusch said.
The former intel officer said he immediately rushed to the orbital analysts and asked them to calculate the debris field and whether any American satellite would have to be manoeuvred.
"I am like going to the orbital analysts on the watch floor with all the crazy screens, like, calculate the debris field, let me know if we have to manoeuvre something," he said.
He rushed to brief the NRO director. "I ran up to the director's office in my uniform, you know, out of breath. I am like, holy sh*t," he further said.
However, India downplayed any risk of debris floating in space. In a statement, the government then said the test was conducted in low-Earth orbit, and the remnants would "decay" within weeks.DID US ATTEMPT TO SPY ON INDIA?
Grusch's account effectively establishes that while the US was aware that India would be testing a missile, it had no clue that it would be an ASAT weapon.
It, in a way, runs counter to the then US defence department spokesperson's statement that America was aware of India's ASAT test.
In 2019, spokesperson Lt Col David W Eastburn made the statement as he rejected reports that the US sent a reconnaissance aircraft from Diego Garcia base to monitor the development.
"No US assets were spying on India," PTI quoted Eastburn as saying.
However, Aircraft Spots, which monitors military air movements, said a US Air Force aircraft did fly out of Diego Garcia "for a mission in the Bay of Bengal". This was interpreted by experts as a bid to spy on India's missile test.- Ends
