Dave Chamberlain, Bali
Indonesia has inked a deal to buy BrahMos supersonic cruise missiles from India, Reuters reported on Monday.
BrahMos, backed by the governments of India and Russia, said in 2023 that it was in advanced talks with Jakarta for a deal valued at $200 million to $350 million.
The deal is “part of the modernization of military hardware and defense capabilities, especially in the maritime sector,” Indonesian Defense Ministry spokesperson Rico Ricardo Sirait told the news agency.
BrahMos signed its first foreign deal with Indonesia’s southern neighbor, the Philippines, in 2022.
BrahMos is a supersonic cruise missile jointly developed by India’s Defense Research and Development Organization and Russia’s NPO Mashinostroyeniya rocket design bureau, which produces Oniks missiles.
The joint enterprise, BrahMos Aerospace Pvt. Ltd., is named after the Brahmaputra and Moskva rivers.
The cruise missile has an operational range of at least 290 km, and efforts are underway to develop an entirely indigenous variant with a range of 400 km.
The next phase of the BrahMos project could involve the joint development of a missile system based on Russia’s Zircon hypersonic missile.
The missile, which can be launched from ships, submarines, land, and air-based missile systems, was first unveiled at the MAKS-2001 airshow.
Testing began in 2001, and joint serial production started in January 2004, primarily aimed at equipping the Indian Navy. India handles the final assembly of the missiles, manufactures launchers, and develops its own command and control systems, complete with software.
In August 2025, India approved weapons purchases worth about $7.6 billion, which included BrahMos missiles and armed drones, along with upgrades to other existing platforms.
