Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that his country shot down one of its satellites in space with an anti-satellite missile on Wednesday.

Modi said, “India would only be the fourth country to have used such an anti-satellite weapon after the United States, Russia and China” and added “Our scientists shot down a live satellite 300 kilometres away in space, in low-earth orbit,” in a television broadcast.

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.