All Indian warships to carry BrahMos, Russia ready to induct supersonic cruise missile: Report
All Indian warships to carry BrahMos. (Image courtesy: Wikimedia)
New Delhi: The India-Russia joint venture BrahMos supersonic cruise missile would become part of every Indian warship’s arsenal, as BrahMos Aerospace was readying to supply the weapon system to Russian forces, the company’s joint managing director Alexander Maksichev said on Wednesday. The BrahMos Aerospace official told this to the Russian news agency Tass at the Fleet 2026 international maritime defence show in St. Petersburg.
“All advanced ships of the Indian Navy, first-line ships, are outfitted and will be subsequently outfitted with BrahMos missiles. The (Indian) navy has tested them in the process of various tests. The missile development has not been put on hold, and we constantly develop the missile’s combat capabilities,” Maksichev said in the interview.
The world’s first operational supersonic cruise missile, with Mach 3 velocity (three times the speed of sound) capable of hitting targets at 300km to 800km range, is a product of a over 25-year joint venture between India and Russia, and is exclusively manufactured in India, with Moscow supplying some critical technologies such as the ramjet propulsion and seeker to New Delhi. India contributes to the missile with the airframe, fire control, and guidance systems. While India’s Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has a 50.5% share, Russia’s NPO Mashinostroyeniya (NPOM) contributes 49.5% in the joint venture.
‘Ready to sell BrahMos to Russia’
Maksichev also said in the Tass interview, reported separately, that the joint venture was ready to supply the BrahMos missile to the Russian armed forces, as and when a request for Moscow was received. “We are ready to fulfil an order if we receive a request from the Russian side. These will either be missiles for the navy or missiles for ground forces. We have sufficient capacities, and we understand that the Russian side wants (the missile),” he was quoted as saying.
The joint venture had tested the BrahMos missile for the first time in 2001, three years after the joint venture was established in February 1998 through an inter-governmental agreement between India and Russia in Moscow. While all three of India’s armed forces have already inducted the BrahMos missile, Russia has yet to buy one.
The Philippines became the first export customer for the BrahMos missile in April 2024, with two batches of Manila’s $375 million order supplied till April 2025. Vietnam became the second export customer earlier this year, but the value of the contract has not been made public yet, as reported recently. Both the Philippines and Vietnam are South China Sea littoral nations and have maritime territorial disputes with China. Indonesia is also in discussions with India to buy the BrahMos missile, and the deal with Jakarta is expected to be signed later this year.
India had successfully deployed the BrahMos missiles during the May 2025 Operation Sindoor against Pakistan, when the weapon system destroyed key military installations and terrorist infrastructure during the four-day war. In March 2022, a BrahMos misfire incident resulted in the missile, without any warhead, crashing inside Pakistan, but causing damage to civilian properties.
The misfire by a BrahMos unit in Ambala in Haryana hit Mian Channu in Khanewal district in Pakistan’s Punjab, cruising about 124 km in three minutes and 44 seconds. Though Pakistan’s air-defence systems picked up the misfired missile, it could not intercept it on time. Pakistan condemned the incident, while India admitted, two days later, that it was a mistake and deeply regretted it.
