Lucknow – India’s efforts to build self-reliance in defence production took a major step forward on Saturday with the rollout of the first batch of BrahMos supersonic cruise missiles from the new BrahMos Integration and Testing Facility in Lucknow.
The facility, part of the Uttar Pradesh Defence Industrial Corridor (UPDIC), is India’s first missile plant to handle the complete process of assembly, integration and testing under one roof.
Built at a cost of ₹380 crore on a 200-acre site, the unit was inaugurated in May 2025 and has completed its first production cycle within five months.
Officials said the plant is expected to produce about 100 missile systems a year, generating a turnover of around ₹3,000 crore from the next financial year. The project is projected to contribute ₹500 crore in GST annually to the state exchequer.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh described BrahMos as the backbone of India’s armed forces, saying its rollout from Lucknow marked “a new phase of indigenous capability.”
The missile, jointly developed by India and Russia, is capable of striking long-range targets at supersonic speed and is already deployed across the Army, Navy and Air Force.
Singh said recent contracts worth ₹4,000 crore signed with two countries show India’s growing role in global arms exports. “Made in India is no longer just a slogan,” he said. “It is a standard of quality.”
UP facility signals momentum in domestic missile production
The Lucknow plant is the most advanced installation within the UP Defence Corridor, which spans six nodes—Lucknow, Kanpur, Jhansi, Aligarh, Chitrakoot and Agra. According to official data, the corridor has drawn investment proposals of about ₹33,900 crore, with land allotted to over 60 firms and nine units currently operational.
Experts say the BrahMos unit’s success will test whether such corridors can evolve beyond assembly hubs into complete manufacturing ecosystems.
Integrating small and medium enterprises into the supply chain, developing indigenous components such as seekers and engines, and maintaining export quality remain key challenges.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said the BrahMos rollout “symbolises Uttar Pradesh’s emergence as a defence manufacturing centre,” noting that over 15,000 jobs have already been created under the state’s defence corridor projects.
Singh also underlined the need to strengthen local industries that supply thousands of components to the defence sector. “We must develop all types of indigenous technologies so that our supply chain remains within India,” he said.
India’s wider defence corridor network
India has been developing two major defence industrial corridors—one in Uttar Pradesh and the other in Tamil Nadu—to decentralise manufacturing and boost exports.
The Tamil Nadu corridor is also making inroads, with over 700 MSMEs engaged and a targeted investment of about ₹75,000 crore by 2032, though analysts say it is still early days for scaling production and exports.
Together, these corridors form the backbone of India’s “Atmanirbhar Bharat” defence strategy, intended to turn the country from an importer into a net exporter of advanced weapon systems.
