The Kerala cabinet, chaired by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, on Monday decided to allot 180 acres of land free of cost to BrahMos Aerospace Thiruvananthapuram Limited (BATL) at Kallikkad village in Kattakkada taluk of Thiruvananthapuram district in the state.
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According to sources, the land will be used exclusively "for the construction of an advanced missile and other strategic units and their related activities."
BATL, formerly known as Kerala Hitech Industries Limited (KELTEC), promoted by the Kerala government as a state PSU, has developed and supplied a wide range of precision and critical products for the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO), GTRE, HAL and the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE).
The new 180-acre site granted by the state will support the expansion and relocation of the existing 15.8-acre BrahMos facility at Chackai in Thiruvananthapuram, allowing full-scale manufacturing of missiles and associated strategic hardware in the state.
The decision comes in the wake of a Supreme Court order in December 2025, granting permission to the Kerala government to allot land occupied by an open prison complex to BATL.
The state government had submitted that the allotment of land for the BrahMos facility is intended for the expansion of BATL’s existing operations, specifically for the establishment of a second manufacturing unit dedicated to advanced missiles and strategic hardware.
The government had said that by providing the land, Kerala would contribute directly to national security and defence growth.
The court had agreed to divide the 257 acres of the 457-acre campus of the Nettukaltheri open prison among BATL, the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB), and the National Forensic Science University.
The state government informed the court that the prison requires less than 100 acres for its primary operations and that the surplus land has been used to generate supplementary revenue. It also noted that setting up an SSB battalion headquarters in Kerala would address a long-standing demand from the home ministry, according to a report by The Hindu in December.
The government had also said this move would ensure a permanent presence of a Central Armed Police Force in the state, enhance national security readiness, and create employment opportunities while boosting development in the region.
