Jakarta: India-Indonesia strategic partnership has reached resounding heights with a landmark defence deal. Jakarta is set to purchase the indigenous BrahMos and Astra missiles. The MoU was sealed during the bilateral talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Indonesian counterpart President Prabowo Subianto. The deal reinforces India as a trusted security partner to strengthen regional security architecture across the volatile geopolitical chessboard and also amplifies the footprint of New Delhi in the global defence export partner. Most importantly, the milestone defence deal with Indonesia, reinvigorates and consolidates the defence indigenisation and self-reliance goal of India. It adds momentum to the Make-in-India in defence vision.
Indonesia is particularly impressed with the incredible and stellar defensive capabilities of the indigenous BrahMos and Astra missiles during Operation Sindoor, where India successfully intercepted and neutralised the intruding threats from the Pakistani camp. As the weapons are war tested its global demand is soaring. Apart from Indonesia, Philippines and Vietnam are also purchasing BrahMos missiles from India. In fact, the Philippines is the maiden country to purchase the BrahMos supersonic missile from New Delhi. Apart from these countries, talks are also underway with the United Arab Emirates(UAE), Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and other countries, who are keen to purchase BrahMos from India.
During the bilateral talks, earlier in the day, India and Indonesia also agreed to enhance maritime security cooperation by strengthening ties between the Coast Guards of both the countries, improving coordination in maritime domain awareness, capacity building and real-time information exchange. As key players in the Indo-Pacific region, this maritime collaboration gained a greater significance and both leaders also advocated for free, open and rule-based Indo-Pacific.
BrahMos is a supersonic cruise missile jointly developed by India and Russia. It has a range of 290kms and is renowned as the world’s fastest cruise missile. It is a multiplatform missile which can be launched with great accuracy from land, air, sea & submarines and has multiple capabilities and can operate during day and night with same accuracy despite bad weather. It operates on the “fire and forget” principle i.e. it does not require guidance after launch. It was deemed as a “game-changer” during Operation Sindoor.
Astra is India’s first indigenously developed Beyond-visual-range air-to-air missile. T is developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation(DRDO). It is capable of intercepting and destroying supersonic aerial targets. It is equipped to destroy the enemy targets from a long distance, without entering its visual range. Its range varies from 100 to 150 kms. It can be launched from an altitude of 20kms above the sea level.
