New Delhi: Indonesia has finalised a deal for the procurement of one battery of the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile for its coastal defence.
Sources in the defence and security establishment told ThePrint that Indonesia is in the process of getting one of its banks to finance the purchase and that the contract would be signed over the next 2-3 months once the bank paperwork is complete.
Sources said that one battery of the BrahMos missile is to be procured in the initial phase. The plan is to scale up the procurement in phases.
ThePrint had in November last year reported that both countries have inched closer to striking a deal for the procurement of the BrahMos missile.
Indonesia has entered an agreement with India to procure the BrahMos missile system, its defence ministry spokesperson Rico Ricardo Sirait was quoted as saying by Reuters.
Sources explained that a formal contract will be signed once the finding comes through for Indonesia.
Indonesia Defence minister Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin had come to India in November and visited the BrahMos facility. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh also gifted him a model of the BrahMos.
Once the deal is inked, Indonesia will become the second country to buy the BrahMos missile besides Philippines which procured three batteries in 2022.
The sources explained that all export versions of the BrahMos come with a ceiling of 290 km range.
Capable of both coastal defence and ground attack besides anti-ship roles, the BrahMos is the only supersonic cruise missile in the world that flies at three times the speed of sound. It is the product of a joint venture between India’s Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and Russia’s NPO Mashinostroyeniya in 1998.
(Edited by Viny Mishra)