Indonesia third nation in China’s backyard to get BrahMos missile

India has agreed to sell the indigenous air launched Astra missile and signed an MoU on the sale of BrahMos missile to Indonesia. It is the third missile contract that New Delhi has signed with countries in the region, which China perceives as its own “backyard”.

This was announced after a bilateral meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto in Jakarta on Tuesday.

Indonesia sits astride four major straits – the Mallaca, Lumbok, Sunda and Ombai–Wetar – which connect the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean. All these four straits are major shipping arteries.

It has sought coast-based batteries of the BrahMos missile with abilities to hit targets up to 290 km at sea. A battery includes launchers, radars and the missiles. The MoU for the BrahMos with Indonesia does not specify the number of batteries that India will supply, but it is likely to be more than one battery, which Indonesia had originally sought in March this year when the two sides established a preliminary procurement framework.

India has supplied the same version of the missile to the Philippines and Vietnam. The Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) restrictions on range, cap the missile at 290 km. The sale of Astra and BrahMos supersonic cruise to Indonesia, appears to be a part of India’s strategy to counter China, which has been supplying weapons to Pakistan and Bangladesh.

The Philippines signed a BrahMos contract with India worth $375 million in 2022, and deliveries started in 2024. The contract for missile systems with Vietnam is reportedly valued at approximately $620 million.

The export of lethal, supersonic “fire-and-forget” systems like the BrahMos to ASEAN nations — especially those with overlapping maritime claims in the South China Sea — highlights a major shift. Analysts say New Delhi is actively sharing advanced technology with regional partners to secure maritime commons and build resilient, trusted supply chains outside of traditional blocs.

The Philippines and Vietnam, both are locked in a running maritime territorial dispute with China in the hydro-carbon rich South China Sea. Indonesia also has a small coast along the same sea, but is not part of the dispute.

Indonesia has also sought 150 of the Astra- Mark 1A Beyond-Visual-Range Air-to-Air Missile (BVRAAM). The missiles are already mated onto the Russian-origin Sukhoi 30 MKI fighter jets of the Indian Air Force, and can car hit at targets in a range of 100 km. New Delhi is in the process of increasing this range to double.

The Indonesian Air Force has a small fleet of Sukhoi jets; and India has the existing technical framework to mate the missile on the Sukhoi using aircraft-missile software and hardware integration.

Indonesia will become the very first export customer for the Astra missile system. The Astra Mk-1 is an all-weather, radar-guided, beyond-visual-range air-to-air missile developed indigenously by India’s Defense Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and manufactured by Bharat Dynamics Limited. The BrahMos is the product of a joint venture between DRDO and Russia’s NPO Mashinostroyeniya in 1998.