Rajnath Singh inagurate largest BrahMos production facility in Lucknow

Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh virtually inaugurated a new BrahMos Aerospace Integration and Testing Facility in Lucknow. It was inaugurated on 11th May 2025 which is also celebrated in the country as the National Technology Day. The Day commemorates the testing of nuclear weapons by India at Pokhran, Rajasthan in 1998 and the contribution of Indian science and technology.

Lucknow is the largest production facility of BrahMos Aerospace Limited which manufactures the BrahMos missile.The other production facilities are in Hyderabad,Thiruvananthapuram, Pillani and Nagpur.

About the Lucknow Production Facility 

• The new production facility has been built in the Uttar Pradesh Defence Industrial Corridor.
• It has been built at the estimated cost of Rs 300 crore and is spread over 80 hectares of land in Lucknow. 
• The new production facility will produce 80-100 BrahMos missiles per year.
• The facility is also equipped to produce the advanced version of the BrahMos NG (New Generation) missile.
• The facility will be further upgraded to produce 150 BrahMos NG per year.
• BrahMos Aerospace Limited owns the production facility.

About BrahMos Aerospace Limited

The BrahMos missile is the world’s first supersonic cruise missile developed and manufactured by BrahMos Aerospace Limited.

• The Brahmos Aerospace Limited is a joint venture between Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and the NPO Mashinostroyenia of Russia.
• DRDO owns 50.5 % while the NPO owns 49.5 % of the Company.
• BrahMos is a combination of the Brahmaputra (India) and the Moskva River of Russia.

Features of the BrahMos missile 

• The missile with a speed of 2.8 -3.5 Mach is one of the fastest supersonic missiles in the world.
• It has a range of 290 to 400 km.
• The missile can be launched from land, air and ship. 
• BrahMos missile uses a “fire and forget” guidance system and is capable of a precision strike in all weather conditions.

BrahMos NG 

• The company is developing an advanced version of BrahMos named BrahMos NG (Next Generation).
• It will be lighter than the existing version, which weighs 2900 kg. The NG version will weigh around 1,290 kg.
• Due to its weight, only Su-30mki fighter aircraft are currently capable of carrying the missile. The Su-30mki will be able to carry three BrahMos NG missiles instead of the one it currently carries.
• will be able to carry up to three BrahMos NG missiles instead of just one
• Also, the land and ship-based systems can integrate up to eight NG missiles instead of the current capacity of three.

Export of BrahMos 

• The Philippines was the first country to buy BrahMos missiles from India. It signed  a $375 million deal with India in 2022 to buy BrahMos .
• Indonesia and Vietnam are negotiating with India over the purchase of the missile.
• Countries from Africa, West Asia have shown interest in the BrahMos missile.

About Defence Industrial Corridor 

In India, there are two Defence Industrial corridors dedicated to the production of Defence and allied equipment.

One is in Tamil Nadu and the other is in Uttar Pradesh.

In Uttar Pradesh there are six nodes in the Defence Industrial Corridors- Lucknow, Kanpur ,Agra,  Jhansi, Aligarh and  Chitrakoot.