BrahMos

The world's fastest cruise missile in service — the BrahMos is a Mach-3 ramjet weapon, jointly built by India and Russia, that streaks toward ships or land targets too fast for most defences to stop. Launchable from warships, land vehicles, fighter jets and submarines, it gives India a versatile, hard-hitting strike weapon that it used in combat against Pakistan in 2025 — and has begun exporting (to the Philippines first), making the BrahMos both a pillar of Indian firepower and the flagship of its drive to become an arms exporter.

Overview

The BrahMos (designated PJ-10, and nicknamed Brahmastra) is a supersonic cruise missile produced by BrahMos Aerospace, a joint venture between India's Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and Russia's NPO Mashinostroyeniya — the name fusing the Brahmaputra and Moskva rivers. Derived from the Russian P-800 Oniks/Yakhont, it is a two-stage weapon: a solid-fuel booster launches it, then a liquid-fuel ramjet sustains supersonic cruise at around Mach 2.8–3, making it one of the fastest operational cruise missiles in the world. Its great strength is versatility — it strikes both ships and land targets and can be launched from warships, land-based mobile launchers, fighter aircraft and submarines — combined with the penetrating power of high supersonic speed. India fields it in large numbers across all three services, has used it in combat, and is now exporting it, beginning with the Philippines.

Development

BrahMos Aerospace was formed in 1998 by India's DRDO and Russia's NPO Mashinostroyeniya, adapting the Russian Oniks/Yakhont anti-ship missile into a multi-role weapon, with the missile entering Indian service from around 2006, per Wikipedia and the BrahMos Aerospace site. Its original range was capped at 290 km by the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR), but after India joined the MTCR in 2016 the range was extended — to roughly 450–800 km in newer variants. Successive versions added air-launch (from the Su-30MKI fighter), submarine launch, and improved seekers and range. India steadily expanded production and integration across its navy, army and air force, and pursued exports — signing the Philippines as the first foreign customer (first batches delivered in 2024–2025), with Vietnam, Indonesia and others reported as prospects, per Times of India. Lighter (BrahMos-NG) and hypersonic (BrahMos-II, a planned Mach-8 weapon) developments are underway.

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