In a big validation to the Indian Defence manufacturing, BrahMos supersonic cruise missile is officially confirmed to be bolstering the offensive capabilities of the Armed Forces of Vietnam. After the Philippines, Vietnam has become the second country confirming the procurement of the Brahmos missiles. Also, the process of Indonesia inducting Brahmos into its military has reached the “final” stage.
Missile Deal With Vietnam Signed, Indonesia in Final Stages
Defence Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh said on Saturday that a BrahMos missile deal with Vietnam had already been signed, while a similar pact involving Indonesia was in the final stages.
“My understanding is that with both Indonesia and Vietnam, the deal is in the final stages. In fact, for Vietnam, I understand that it has already been signed, probably not publicly announced, but it’s already been signed,” Singh said.
Singh is in Singapore to attend the Shangri-La Dialogue, and his comments were in response to a question on potential buyers of the missile system.
As exclusively reported by Times Now in March, the batteries of the unbeatable Brahmos Cruise missile will strengthen the offensive capabilities of the Indonesian Armed Forces by 2028. As per the exclusive details with the Times Now, India will be supplying all the batteries of the missile within 36 months of signing the contract.
The deal with Indonesia is a reinforcement of India’s indigenous defence manufacturing capability, and three batteries are said to be deployed in Coastal Defence as they are of the same version as those exported to the Philippines.
Philippines First Major BrahMos Deal For India
As per Times Now’s report, the missile deal with the Philippines was the first major defence deal for India under which it received the first batch of BrahMos supersonic cruise missiles in April 2024. While the deal with the Philippines was announced in January 2022 for the supply of the missile, the process between India and Indonesia had started around that time.
As per the Philippines’ Department of National Defence ‘Notice of Award’ to India’s BrahMos Aerospace Private Limited, the contract amounted to $374.96 million (`2,700 crore) for the purchase of a shore-based anti-ship missile system from India.
The BrahMos cruise missile has a range of 290 kilometres and a speed of 2.8 Mach (more than 3,000kms/hr, thrice the speed of sound).