In what comes as a major fillip to indigenous defence production, the first BrahMos missile consignment from the newly-established Lucknow facility will be delivered on Saturday.
"From the land of Nawabs to the land of Defence Power— Lucknow is scripting history!," advisor to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath Awanish K. Awasthi said in a tweet on Thursday.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and UP CM Adityanath will be present on the occasion of the handing over of the first batch of BrahMos supersonic cruise missiles, manufactured at the facility.
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The handing over of the first batch of BrahMos missiles from the Lucknow facility comes amid claims that several countries have expressed interest in the missile, jointly developed by DRDO and Russia’s NPO Mashinostroyeniya, post Operation Sindoor. This was one of the primary precision-strike weapons used to target key Pakistani airbases during Operation Sindoor. Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) chairman Samir V. Kamat had said, "When it comes to offensive weapons, BrahMos was the primary weapon used, which was launched from our Sukhoi Mark 1 platform."
Inaugurated virtually by Singh in May, the BrahMos Aerospace facility in Lucknow, established at a cost of Rs 300 crore, is the centerpiece of the Uttar Pradesh Defence Industrial Corridor (UPDIC). A few months ago, Singh had said the BrahMos facility in the state would strengthen India's self-reliance in the defence sector.
Designed for the large-scale manufacture, assembly, and integration of BrahMos supersonic cruise missiles, the plant aims to manufacture about 80-110 missiles initially, to be scaled up to 150 eventually.