Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in a televised speech to the nation on Wednesday, announced that India conducted its first anti-satellite missile test (A-SAT) by successfully destroying a low-Earth orbit satellite in space. The prime minister said India is the fourth country after the United States, Russia and China have conducted an A-SAT test.
WeBindas takes a look at the international media version of “Shakti Mission.”
Gulf Today
The headlines of Gulf Today, United Arab Emirates based media, says: “India demolishes its own satellite in test.”
The newspaper describes the test in the context of the recent confrontations between India and Pakistan:
“Modi’s Hindu nationalist-led government has taken a strong position on national security, launching air strikes last month on a suspected militant camp in Pakistan that spurred retaliatory raids. “
Dawn :
The Pakistani newspaper Dawn suspects the achievement of India. Its headline says: “India claims to shoot down satellite, join ‘space superpowers'” space superpowers. “Its first lines read:” Just a few weeks before India goes to the polls, Modi said Indian scientists “shot down a live satellite. in a low Earth orbit. “
The newspaper also quoted the spokesman of the Pakistan Foreign Office, Dr. Mohammad Faisal, saying: ” “Boasting of such capabilities is reminiscent of Don Quixote’s tilting against windmills”
China Daily
The Chinese newspaper China Daily is at a standstill. It says: “Modi says that India knocks down satellite in low Earth orbit.” Like Dawn, the brief report casts doubt. He writes: “The Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, on Wednesday in a surprise speech to the nation, claimed that Indian scientists shot down a live satellite in low Earth orbit with an anti-satellite weapon.”
The Daily Express
The British tabloid newspaper, The Daily Express, takes a bold position and writes “FURY as” the elite space power. “India shoots satellites from the sky, and we still pay them HELP.”
The newspaper questions the costly space expedition of India “while the UK STILL millions of dollars in foreign aid to the country at the expense of the taxpayer”.
“The controversial prime minister, Narendra Modi, described the country as an elite space power that can now face a threat of any kind,” the newspaper writes. He adds: “It is said that the new high-tech war system costs billions, despite having received almost 100 million pounds of cash aid from the United Kingdom in the last two years.”
RT
The Russian channel RT is a praise for the A-SAT of India: “India joins the” super league “of space when it knocks down the satellite with precision missiles, Modi”.
The media says that India’s technological advances should not be “underestimated.” A Russian military expert, Mikhail Khodarenok, says that hitting a satellite 300 km above the ground was “a great result” and India can “consider the development of a spacecraft capable of defending its own satellites”.
The Washington Post
The Washington Post, in “India shoots down satellite in test of space defense, Modi announces”, quickly links missile launch with Indian military preparation. “The successful test comes amid broader concerns about the preparation of the Indian armed forces for modern battles. He recently engaged with Pakistan in its first air combat in decades. Pakistan shot down an Indian plane and stopped an Indian pilot, “he writes.
Post Adds: “The latest feat demonstrates India’s growing ambitions and footprint in space, where its neighbor China is seen as dominant”