BrahMos Partnership Reinforces Indonesia–India Defense Self-Reliance

RRI.CO.ID, Jakarta - The Government of India stated that cooperation with Indonesia on the procurement of the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile and air-to-air missiles is intended to enlarge the defense self-reliance and capabilities of both countries by developing defense systems they own and control.

“The areas you referred to, the BrahMos and the air-to-air missiles, are the areas that are new in our collaboration. The benefits are obvious that we are self-sufficient," Secretary (East) of India’s Ministry of External Affairs, Rudrendra Tandon said during a press briefing in Jakarta on Tuesday evening, 7 July 2026.

Tandon also said the missile cooperation forms part of the implementation of the Indonesia–India Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. It also reflects the commitment of the two developing countries to support each other in strengthening their defense capabilities.

Regarding the BrahMos procurement contract, Tandon stressed that discussions at the leaders’ level focused on the strategic direction of bilateral cooperation rather than on commercial details, such as the contract value or the number of missiles to be acquired by Indonesia.

"However, commercial agreements are not really discussed at the highest level. Those are left for the companies to sort out," he said.

According to him, the commercial contract for the BrahMos procurement will be handled by BrahMos Aerospace and Indonesia’s Ministry of Defense, while the air-to-air missile cooperation will be carried out by Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL) and Republikorp.

“ I can tell you that it is an important area of collaboration and there were extensive discussions on that," he said.

The procurement agreement for the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile between BrahMos Aerospace and Indonesia’s Ministry of Defense was announced in the presence of Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the Prime Minister’s state visit to Jakarta on Tuesday.

The defense cooperation, including the procurement of the BrahMos missile and air-to-air missiles, was among the 16 cooperation documents announced during the state visit.