India shot down one of its satellites in space with an anti-satellite missile on Wednesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, hailing the country’s first test of such technology as a major breakthrough that establishes it as a space power. From a report: India would only be the fourth country to have used such an anti-satellite weapon after the United States, Russia and China, said Modi, who heads into general elections next month. “Our scientists shot down a live satellite 300 kilometres away in space, in low-earth orbit,” Modi said in a television broadcast. “India has made an unprecedented achievement today,” he added, speaking in Hindi. “India registered its name as a space power.” Anti-satellite weapons allow for attacks on enemy satellites, blinding them or disrupting communications, as well as providing a technology base to intercept ballistic missiles.

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Source: Slashdot – India Shoots Down Satellite in Test