New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday announced that India has entered an elite club of space powers by destroying a low earth orbit satellite using a missile.

"India has entered its name as an elite space power. An anti-satellite weapon A-SAT, successfully targeted a live satellite on a low earth orbit,” said PM Modi. 
Till now only three countries in the world had achieved this. They are America, Russia and China. India has now become the fourth country in this group.

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Calling it as 'Mission Shakti', PM Modi said it is an important step towards securing India's safety, economic growth and technological advancement. Mission Shakti, was led by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).

He also said that Mission Shakti, which was created by completely indigenous effort, was a difficult target to achieve as it was a highly complex one, conducted at extremely high speed with remarkable precision. Luckily, it was completed successfully within three minutes of launch.

Modi also applauded the effort of India’s outstanding scientists. 

The Prime Minister also assured the intel community that the A-SAT missile will not be used against anyone. “A-SAT missile will give new strength to India's space programme. I assure int'l community that our capability won't be used against anyone but is purely India's defence initiative for its security. We're against arms raised in space. This test won't breach any int'l law or treaties,” said Modi.