Lucknow Joins the Elite: BrahMos Missile Unit Launch Marks New Era for India’s Defence

Lucknow is going to make history as it joins the select league of cities manufacturing supersonic cruise missiles with the launch of the BrahMos missile production facility on Sunday. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath will inaugurate the facility, which is part of the ambitious Uttar Pradesh Defence Industrial Corridor, while Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will join virtually from New Delhi.

Key highlights

The BrahMos production facility is constructed at a cost of ₹300 crore on 80 hectares of land donated free of cost by the Uttar Pradesh government. Construction was finished in just three and a half years.

This plant will produce the world's fastest supersonic cruise missile-a collaborative effort between India's DRDO and Russia's NPO Mashinostroyeniya. The BrahMos missile has a range of 290 to 400 km and a maximum speed of Mach 2.8. It can be launched from land, sea, or air and has a fire-and-forget system, which makes it extremely accurate and hard to intercept.

The Lucknow facility is likely to manufacture 80 to 100 missiles every year, and the new BrahMos Aerospace Integration and Testing Facility is where the most recent version of the missile will be assembled and tested.

In addition to the missile unit, the inauguration will also witness the opening of the Titanium and Super Alloys Materials Plant, which will produce high-grade materials for the aerospace and defence industries, including space missions such as Chandrayaan and next-generation fighter planes.

The event will also witness the laying of foundation stone for Defence Testing Infrastructure System (DTIS) at Lucknow node that will enable local testing and certification of defence products.

The 2018 launched Uttar Pradesh Defence Industrial Corridor has six strategic nodes: Lucknow, Kanpur, Aligarh, Agra, Jhansi, and Chitrakoot. The corridor will enhance India's indigenous dependence on defence, help local industry grow, generate jobs, and private sector, MSME, and startup investment.

With this addition, Uttar Pradesh is the second state after Tamil Nadu to have a Defence Industrial Corridor, supporting India's Make in India and Atmanirbhar Bharat (self-reliant India) efforts.

The inaugural event will be held with the projection of short movies depicting the BrahMos project, latest alloy technology, and developments of the Defence Corridor. Prominent visitors such as DRDO Secretary Dr. Sameer V. Kamat and Sachin Agarwal, chairman of PTC Industries, will make a brief speech at the occasion, shedding light on how the cooperative working is behind making India a big player in defense manufacturing.

Sources: Hindustan Times, The Hindu Business Line, BusinessWorld, UNI India, Indian Express