BrahMos Missile Production: Lucknow, a city rich in history, poetry and the echoes of rebellion, has now entered a new chapter. Along the banks of the Ganges, a supersonic force is being forged, one that promises to transform India’s defence capabilities across land, sea and air. On a sprawling 200-acre site on the city’s outskirts, the BrahMos Aerospace Integration and Testing Facility is bringing India’s most formidable conventional deterrent, the supersonic BrahMos cruise missile, to life.
The journey to Lucknow began in 2018 when the Uttar Pradesh government allocated 200 acres along the Lucknow-Kanpur highway as part of the Uttar Pradesh Defence Industrial Corridor (UPDIC). BrahMos Aerospace Private Limited (BAPL), the Indo-Russian joint venture, needed a new facility as its existing units in Hyderabad, Thiruvananthapuram, Pilani and Nagpur were no longer sufficient to handle increasing domestic and international orders.
The Indian Navy was seeking additional ship- and submarine-launched missiles, the Air Force aimed to integrate air-launched BrahMos on 40 Su-30MKIs, and the Army required extended-range land variants.
Meanwhile, export inquiries had turned into confirmed deals, with the Philippines already receiving its first battery in 2024. Negotiations with Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Argentina, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) were underway. By 2025, BrahMos Aerospace had confirmed orders for over 800 missiles for the next five years, making a new production hub inevitable.
The Facility That Changes The Game
Constructed at a cost of around Rs 380 crore, the Lucknow campus is being described as a “city within a city”. It houses massive integration halls, a booster production block, a warhead mating facility, a high-speed sled track for subsystem validation and a pre-dispatch inspection bay with stringent environmental controls, comparable to a spacecraft cleanroom.
From the original 290 km land and ship models to the 600 km extended-range and the next-generation BrahMos-NG, every BrahMos variant is planned to roll out from this facility.
On May 11, the Defence Minister virtually inaugurated the facility, highlighting its strategic importance in meeting growing domestic and global demand. Later, on October 18, the first batch of missiles was flagged off to the Indian Armed Forces, signalling a change in India’s defence production. Experts said that the facility signals a change from traditional coastal hubs to inland defence powerhouses.
Inside The Production Hub
The facility is meticulously designed for end-to-end missile integration and testing. Large integration halls, booster production units, warhead mating blocks and high-speed sled tracks are paired with pre-dispatch inspection areas that ensure every missile leaving the campus meets the highest quality standards.
This setup allows BrahMos to produce and support multiple variants efficiently while maintaining precision and reliability.
The People Powering The Ramjet
At present, the Lucknow facility employs between 300 to 500 professionals directly, but its impact reaches far beyond. The missile production process requires expertise across advanced materials, chemicals, electronics, precision machining, welding and mechanical subsystems.
BrahMos Aerospace collaborates with more than 200 public and private sector companies across India for components, sub-assemblies and specialised tools.
The facility is also actively onboarding new vendors in and around Lucknow to expand production capacity, allowing closer project monitoring and faster iteration while maintaining high standards.
Recruitment is purely merit-based, focussed on attracting top talent in aerospace, mechanical, electronics and computer sciences through rigorous assessments and multiple security clearances. Young engineers with exceptional skills find opportunities to contribute to a world-class weapon system.
Numbers That Matter
The Lucknow unit aims to produce 80-100 missiles annually, contributing an estimated Rs 3,000 crore to revenue by FY 2027-28. The GST on each missile is around Rs 8 crore, and the first batch contributed approximately Rs 40 crore to the Uttar Pradesh state exchequer.
Indigenous content presently stands at 83% and is projected to reach 85% by 2026, drawing on inputs from over 200 MSMEs and firms like L&T, Godrej, HAL, Data Patterns and PTC Industries.
Next-Generation BrahMos
While the facility initially focusses on meeting present BrahMos demand, its long-term mission is the BrahMos NG (Next Generation). The NG variant will maintain a 300 km range but weigh only 1,200 kilograms, compared to the existing 2,900 kg.
This reduction in size allows fighter jets like the Su-30 to carry multiple missiles, up to five on one platform, and ships and land-based launchers to carry more missiles per unit. The design ensures effectiveness, higher availability and cost-efficiency.
The Lucknow facility will serve as the production hub for the BrahMos NG, supporting integration across land, sea and air platforms. Its creation consolidates India’s technological and manufacturing capabilities under one roof, securing a strategic advantage for years to come.
A Strategic Leap Forward
In essence, the BrahMos Integration and Testing Facility in Lucknow embodies India’s ambition to lead in supersonic missile technology. By producing, assembling and integrating advanced BrahMos variants while nurturing top-tier talent and an extensive supplier ecosystem, the facility strengthens India’s defence, technological independence and export potential. The next generation of BrahMos is a statement of India’s capability, precision and growing global influence.
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