New Delhi: India is on the verge of signing a defence deal worth nearly Rs 4,000 crore with Indonesia for the export of the BrahMos missile system, a development that signals how India’s defence industry has transformed in the past decade.
Officials familiar with the negotiations say Indonesia has shown interest in acquiring the system and is keen to close the agreement soon. If the deal goes through, Jakarta will become the second country after the Philippines to purchase BrahMos, giving New Delhi another major success in the global defence market.
The Philippines signed a Rs 3,100-crore contract earlier, and the Indonesian proposal is expected to exceed that figure. For India, which for years depended heavily on arms imports, the move toward exporting high-value defence systems represents a major turnaround.
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The ‘Make in India’ push has changed the landscape of the country’s weapons industry, with several indigenous systems now attracting buyers abroad. Indian missiles and related technologies have begun to gain a strong foothold globally, especially after the world saw their performance during Operation Sindoor in May, when India showcased several home-grown systems.
Against this backdrop, demand for BrahMos has grown a lot. Jointly developed by India and Russia, the supersonic cruise missile has drawn interest from multiple countries.
Defence officials say more than a dozen nations have formally expressed interest in acquiring it.
Indonesia is the latest to move forward. As the world’s largest Muslim-majority nation, Indonesia has been expanding its military capabilities, and BrahMos fits into its modernisation plan. According to a report in the Hindustan Times, Jakarta wants both the surface-to-surface and ship-launched versions of the missile.
This interest gained momentum last month when Indonesian Defence Minister Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin visited New Delhi. During the trip, he toured BrahMos Aerospace along with India’s Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and received a detailed briefing on the capabilities of the missile.
Sources say discussions on the coastal battery version have entered an advanced stage, and Indonesia has also conveyed enthusiasm for the naval variant.
Earlier in January, Admiral Muhammad Ali, the Indonesian Navy chief, visited India for his own review of the system at BrahMos Aerospace. If the agreement is finalised, Indonesia will officially become the second international buyer of BrahMos after the Philippines.
The financial plan is already coming together. Indonesia is looking at a package valued at a minimum of $450 million or roughly Rs 4,000 crore. Officials also say that while the issue of a line of credit has not been discussed so far, India is open to considering it if Jakarta makes a request.
The missile carries a name drawn from two rivers, India’s Brahmaputra and Russia’s Moskva, symbolising the joint partnership behind its development. The export version has a range of 290 kilometres.
Indonesia has been in talks for more than seven years, and Indian specialists have even travelled to Jakarta to assess how the missile can be integrated with Indonesian naval platforms. This cooperation fits into the growing maritime ties between the two countries.
India and Indonesia has recently conducted a joint naval exercise called ‘Samudra Shakti’ to strengthen coordination against piracy, illegal activities and threats in shared waters.
If the current momentum holds, the upcoming deal could become another milestone in India’s journey from being one of the world’s largest arms importers to an emerging exporter of advanced defence technology.
