New Delhi: In a joint programme of the Defence Research and Development Organisation [DRDO] and Indian Space Research Orgnasiation [ISRO], India entered into an elite club of nations with anti-satellite [A-SAT] weapons by shooting down the low-orbit earth [LEO] satellite at a height of 300 km of the earth’s surface on Wednesday from Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Island in Odisha.
Addressing the nation, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that the entire operation codenamed ‘Mission Shakti’ just took three minutes in destroying the target successfully.
The Prime Minister said, “ The operation “Mission Shakti” was extremely difficult one but our scientists have successfully accomplished the operation.”
Mr Modi said that India had registered herself as a space power today till now US, Russia and China have achieved this. India is the fourth nation to achieve this feat. It is a matter of pride for every citizen of the country that anti-satellite [ASAT] is purely indigenous.
PM congratulated the entire team of the Mission Shakti from whose contribution, the extraordinary success was achieved.
Prime Minister assured the international community that this capability would not be used against any nation but was purely India’s defence initiative for its security.
“India stands firm against the arms race in the space and there has been no change in the policy” PM added.
“Today’s test does not break any international law . We just want to secure the lives of 130 crore Indians by adopting the future technology. Our mission is to maintain peace not to create an atmosphere of war. Main purpose of this mission is securing India safety, economic growth and technological advancement”, The PM said in a televised speech.
