Modi hails India as a 'space superpower' after satellite kill

Missile test helps New Delhi boost defenses against Beijing

20190327 INDIA LOW ORBIT SATELITE SHOT DOWN

Indians watch Prime Minister Narendra Modi's televised address to the nation on Wednesday. © AFP/Jiji

KIRAN SHARMA, Nikkei staff writer

NEW DELHI -- Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday proclaimed that India had joined the global space elite after shooting down a low-orbit satellite with a missile.

"India has become a space superpower," he said in a rare televised address to the nation. He said the country was now the fourth after the U.S., Russia and China to develop its own antisatellite (ASAT) missile.

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