New Delhi: India on wednesday successfully conducted an A-SAT or anti-satellite missile test. A day after the test the Chairman of the DRDO (Defence Research and Development Organisation) revealed that the project to develop this rare missile capability was green-lit two years ago.

In an interview to ANI, Chairman G Satheesh Reddy said,  "The NSA (Ajit Doval) whom we report to on strategic matters gave the direction to go ahead with the test and he had the concurrence from the Prime Minister. The development started a few years back and we went into mission mode in the last 6 months.” He also added that in the last 6 months when the A-SAT missile programme entered "mission mode" level, about 100 scientists worked round-the-clock to reach the intended launch date target that was set.

The A-SAT missile was launched at approximately 11:16 AM on Tuesday from Odisha's Balasore and within three minutes of launch, it successfully hit the intended target, a de-commissioned Indian satellite, in a "Low-Earth Orbit" at roughly 300 km from the Earth's surface.

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Clearing reason behind choosing a 300 km-altitude range for the target, Reddy said that protecting nearby space assets had to be considered. He said "As a responsible nation we wanted to be sure all space assets were safe and all the debris decayed fast.”

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With the success of "Mission Shakti", India has now entered an elite club of three nations - United States, Russia and China, with similar missile technology.