India’s flagship supersonic cruise missile, BrahMos, completed 25 years on Friday. It was first test-fired from a stationary vertical launcher at Chandipur off the Odisha coast on June 12, 2001 and has since evolved into a key precision-strike weapon in India’s arsenal.
Developed under a joint venture between India and Russia, BrahMos has emerged as a versatile, multi-platform missile deployed across the Army, Navy and Air Force. In recent years, it has also been exported to the Philippines, while countries such as Indonesia and Vietnam have placed orders.
In India, the missile is now deployed on major naval warships. Several Sukhoi-30MKI aircraft of the Indian Air Force have been structurally modified to carry the air-launched variant of the missile.
On land, Army artillery units along forward areas are equipped with the system, and it is also deployed at select Indian Air Force ground bases along the western front.
The missile has also been used in combat operations. During Operation Sindoor on May 10 last year, the Indian Air Force carried out strikes on multiple Pakistani military targets, with BrahMos used in some of the attacks.
On June 12, 2001, the Ministry of Defence announced the first successful test, stating that the missile was “the first of its kind in the world”.
India’s pursuit of such a missile began in 1983 with the launch of the Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme (IGMDP). The programme faced multiple technological challenges over the years.
In the early 1990s, following the Gulf War and the collapse of the Soviet Union, India’s military planners explored advanced missile systems capable of penetrating modern air defence networks. Russia, emerging from the Cold War, provided key technology cooperation.
The two countries signed an Inter-Governmental Agreement in Moscow on February 12, 1998. Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, then Secretary, Department of Defence R&D, and NV Mikhailov, Russia’s First Deputy Defence Minister, were the signatories.
BrahMos Aerospace was subsequently established as a joint venture between the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and Russia’s NPO Mashinostroyenia (NPOM). The name “BrahMos” is derived from the Brahmaputra and Moskva rivers.
The missile was originally based on Russia’s P-800 Oniks (Yakhont) anti-ship cruise missile technology, combining Russian ramjet propulsion systems with Indian guidance, software and airframe components.
The programme progressed rapidly from design to testing and achieved several milestones. In 2005, the Indian Navy became the first service to induct the system. The anti-ship variant was deployed on Rajput-class warships, significantly enhancing long-range strike capability.
Two years later, in 2007, the Indian Army inducted the land-attack variant, which is capable of precision strikes on specific targets using advanced guidance systems.
The air-launched variant was successfully tested in November 2017 from a Sukhoi-30MKI aircraft, completing India’s supersonic cruise missile triad capability—land, sea, and air launch platforms.
India joined the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) in 2016, after which earlier range restrictions of around 290 km were eased. Subsequently, the BrahMos extended-range programme was developed, and the missile has been tested at ranges of up to 450 km.
Over the years, indigenous content in the system has increased to over 75 per cent. The next aim is to enhance its speed from Mach-3 to Mach-5.
