BrahMos at 25: How India is shaping the future of its most critical missile technology

Twenty-five years after it was first conceived as an Indo-Russian joint venture, the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile has grown into one of the most potent and strategically significant weapons in India's arsenal — and the programme is now being steered decisively into the next phase of its evolution.

BrahMos Aerospace, the joint venture between India's DRDO and Russia's NPO Mashinostroyeniya, has spent the past quarter century developing variants of the missile for land, sea and air-launch platforms. The missile's combination of speed, precision and range has made it a centrepiece of India's anti-ship and land-attack capabilities, and it has drawn strong interest from friendly nations seeking to bolster their own defences.

India is now working on a hypersonic successor and has progressively increased the missile's range well beyond its original parameters, a development that significantly expands its operational envelope. The air-launched variant, integrated with the Indian Air Force's Su-30MKI fleet, has added a formidable long-range strike capability. Simultaneously, India has concluded or is pursuing export agreements with several countries, positioning BrahMos as a flagship product of its nascent but ambitious defence exports push.

The 25th anniversary milestone carries added resonance given the heightened security environment on India's borders. BrahMos now represents not just a weapons system but a symbol of India's capacity to develop, refine and export cutting-edge defence technology — a template for the broader 'Make in India' vision in the strategic sector.