Why is BrahMos emerging as India’s most sought-after defence export? | Explained
India and Indonesia concluded a contract for the supply of BrahMos supersonic cruise missiles, announced during an official visit to Jakarta in July 2026 [Unverified: precise contract value reported around $630 million by a single source]
Indonesia becomes the third international customer for BrahMos, after the Philippines (contract signed 2022) and ongoing discussions with Vietnam
The missile's export-variant range allows Indonesia to extend coverage across its Exclusive Economic Zone, including maritime approaches near the Natuna Islands
The deal is expected to strengthen Indonesia's coastal anti-access/area-denial capability along strategic chokepoints such as the Malacca, Sunda, Lombok, and Makassar Straits
BrahMos — India-Russia Joint Venture and Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR)
BrahMos Aerospace is a joint venture between India's DRDO and Russia's NPO Mashinostroyeniya, formed after an Inter-Governmental Agreement signed in Moscow on 12 February 1998. It produces the BrahMos, a ramjet-powered supersonic cruise missile (named after the Brahmaputra and Moskva rivers) that can be launched from land, sea (ships/submarines), and air platforms. India's ability to export the full-range missile was constrained until it joined the MTCR.
Key Details
- Ownership structure: India (DRDO) holds 50.5%, Russia (NPO Mashinostroyeniya) holds 49.5%
- India became the 35th member of the MTCR on 27 June 2016, which unlocked legal export of missiles beyond the earlier informal 300 km/500 kg payload ceiling that non-members like India previously self-restricted to
- Export variants remain capped at 290 km range to stay under the MTCR Category-I threshold (missiles capable of carrying a 500 kg payload beyond 300 km); India's own inducted/extended-range variants go well beyond this (400 km+ variants reported in later development)
- First export customer was the Philippines (2022 contract, ~$375 million, three shore-based anti-ship batteries); first public display of Philippine batteries was in November 2025
The Indonesia deal is the second confirmed BrahMos export contract after the Philippines, demonstrating the practical impact of India's 2016 MTCR entry on its defence export trajectory.
Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) under UNCLOS and India's Maritime Zones Act, 1976
The Exclusive Economic Zone is a maritime zone recognised under Part V of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), 1982, extending up to 200 nautical miles from a coastal state's baseline, within which the state has sovereign rights over living and non-living resources. India codified this domestically through the Territorial Waters, Continental Shelf, Exclusive Economic Zone and Other Maritime Zones Act, 1976 (Section 7).
Key Details
- UNCLOS was adopted in 1982 and entered into force in 1994; India ratified it on 29 June 1995
- EEZ extends from the outer limit of the 12-nautical-mile territorial sea to 200 nautical miles from the baseline
- Indonesia's EEZ in the North Natuna Sea overlaps China's "nine-dash line" claim, a claim a 2016 Permanent Court of Arbitration ruling (Philippines v. China) found to have no basis in international law
- India itself has petitioned the UN to extend its continental shelf claims beyond 200 nautical miles up to 350 nautical miles in certain areas
Coastal deployment of BrahMos batteries would let Indonesia project deterrence across its EEZ, particularly around the Natuna Islands, in response to repeated incursions by foreign fishing and coast guard vessels.
India's Defence Production and Export Promotion Policy (DPEPP), 2020
The DPEPP 2020, released in draft by the Ministry of Defence, is the guiding policy framework for boosting India's domestic defence manufacturing and export capability under the broader Atmanirbhar Bharat (self-reliance) push.
Key Details
- Targets: aerospace and defence exports of ₹35,000 crore (~$5 billion) and a total defence production turnover of ₹1,75,000 crore (~$25 billion) by 2025
- Focus areas include Positive Indigenisation Lists, Strategic Partnership models for private industry, and dedicated Defence Industrial Corridors (Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu)
- Marks a policy shift from India's historical status as one of the world's largest arms importers toward becoming a net exporter in select platforms
Successive BrahMos export contracts (Philippines, and now Indonesia) are cited as evidence of DPEPP's export-promotion objectives translating into actual contracts for India's defence industrial base.
- BrahMos joint venture formed: 12 February 1998 (India-Russia Inter-Governmental Agreement, Moscow)
- Ownership: DRDO (India) 50.5%, NPO Mashinostroyeniya (Russia) 49.5%
- Export-variant missile range: capped at 290 km (MTCR Category-I threshold is >300 km with 500 kg payload)
- India joined MTCR: 27 June 2016 (35th member)
- First export customer: Philippines, January 2022 contract, ~$375 million for three shore-based batteries
- Second/third export customers: Vietnam (in discussion), Indonesia (contract announced July 2026) [Unverified value: ~$630 million]
- UNCLOS: adopted 1982, in force 1994; India ratified 29 June 1995; EEZ extends to 200 nautical miles from baseline
- DPEPP 2020 targets: $5 billion in defence exports and $25 billion in production turnover by 2025