Jakarta. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi clinched an undisclosed-amount contract for the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile during his talks with President Prabowo Subianto in Jakarta on Tuesday.

Shortly before the leaders jointly addressed reporters, the Indonesian government announced that the meeting had resulted in a string of deals. One of the key outcomes was a “contract signing for BrahMos missile system” between Indonesia’s Defense Ministry and its developer, BrahMos Aerospace. 

The politicians made no specific mention of the BrahMos contract during the briefing. However, Prabowo did describe Modi’s Jakarta trip as a “shared commitment to advance the comprehensive strategic partnership in a concrete and mutually beneficial manner”.

Speaking via an interpreter, Modi told the press that they had witnessed major breakthroughs in defense ties. 

"We are seeing greater trust between our countries as seen in our security and defense partnership," Modi said.

The Jakarta Globe has reached out to the Defense Ministry to spill details of the contract. 

But Indonesia’s decision to buy the supersonic missiles comes as no surprise, as the Prabowo administration has been eyeing an upgrade to the national military fleet.

A few months ago, Defense Ministry spokesman Rico Ricardo Sirait had told the Globe that Indonesia had its heart set on buying BrahMos missiles to “beef up the country’s coastal defense”. 

A December 2025 article by the South China Morning Post wrote that the governments were “close to finalizing a $450 million deal for the BrahMos missiles”. But BrahMos itself is a joint venture with Russia. Progress on this contract also hinges on Moscow’s formal approval.

The Modi visit saw an “air-to-air missile cooperation agreement” between Hyderabad-based arms manufacturer Bharat Dynamics and defense holding Republikorp. In recent years, Republikorp has partnered with foreign arms makers, including the Bayraktar KIZILELMA unmanned combat aircraft deal with the Turkish defense titan Baykar.

Amid a weakening currency, Indonesia’s defense budget this year hits the Rp 337 trillion mark ($18.7 billion). The Defense Ministry gets around Rp 187.1 trillion ($10.4 billion). The ministry plans to spend no more than Rp 83.5 trillion (almost $4.6 billion) on arms purchases.

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