The BrahMos supersonic cruise missile, a joint venture between India and Russia derived from the P-800 Oniks but with significant improvements, is reportedly being considered for adoption into Russian service following its reported success during Operation Sindoor and given Russia's depleting missile stocks due to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. BrahMos Aerospace has expressed readiness to fulfill a Russian order for either naval or ground-based versions, highlighting their capacity and understanding of Russian requirements, and this development comes as India is already finalizing export deals for the missile with countries like the Philippines and Vietnam, and plans to equip its entire navy and future fighter aircraft with different BrahMos variants, underscoring the missile's advanced capabilities including its Mach 3 speed, 290 km export range (extendable to 800 km for India), fire-and-forget functionality, and difficulty of interception due to its low radar signature and operational flexibility across multiple platforms and configurations.

The BrahMos supersonic cruise missile, a joint venture between India and Russia derived from the P-800 Oniks but with significant improvements, is reportedly being considered for adoption into Russian service following its reported success during Operation Sindoor and given Russia's depleting missile stocks due to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. BrahMos Aerospace has expressed readiness to fulfill a Russian order for either naval or ground-based versions, highlighting their capacity and understanding of Russian requirements, and this development comes as India is already finalizing export deals for the missile with countries like the Philippines and Vietnam, and plans to equip its entire navy and future fighter aircraft with different BrahMos variants, underscoring the missile's advanced capabilities including its Mach 3 speed, 290 km export range (extendable to 800 km for India), fire-and-forget functionality, and difficulty of interception due to its low radar signature and operational flexibility across multiple platforms and configurations.

The BrahMos supersonic cruise missile, a joint venture between India and Russia derived from the P-800 Oniks but with significant improvements, is reportedly being considered for adoption into Russian service following its reported success during Operation Sindoor and given Russia's depleting missile stocks due to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. BrahMos Aerospace has expressed readiness to fulfill a Russian order for either naval or ground-based versions, highlighting their capacity and understanding of Russian requirements, and this development comes as India is already finalizing export deals for the missile with countries like the Philippines and Vietnam, and plans to equip its entire navy and future fighter aircraft with different BrahMos variants, underscoring the missile's advanced capabilities including its Mach 3 speed, 290 km export range (extendable to 800 km for India), fire-and-forget functionality, and difficulty of interception due to its low radar signature and operational flexibility across multiple platforms and configurations.

Closely derived from Russia's P-800 Oniks but significantly improved, the India–Russia joint venture BrahMos missile could soon enter Russian service following its reported success during Operation Sindoor. 

The BrahMos was touted as a game-changer during the four-day-long military clash between India and Pakistan. With the Russian missile inventory running low due to the ongoing war in Ukraine, Moscow could soon tap into the BrahMos inventory given the fact that BrahMos Aerospace had been eyeing Russian orders for a long time.

BrahMos JV Managing Co-Director Alexander Maksichev told agencies on the sidelines of the ongoing Fleet 2026 International Maritime Defence Show that the organisation was ready to sell the supersonic cruise missile to Russia.

“We are ready to fulfil an order if we receive a request from the Russian side. These will be either missiles for the Navy or missiles for ground forces. We have sufficient capacities, and we understand what the Russian side wants,” Maksichev said.

While there are several variants of the BrahMos, the one primed for export has a range of 290 kilometres. India’s army, navy, and air force all use different versions of the BrahMos, which is jointly developed by Russia’s Research and Production Association of Machine-Building and India’s Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).

India has already inked deals to supply BrahMos to the Philippines and Vietnam, with Indonesia expected to be the third importer. Currently, the total portfolio of orders with BrahMos Aerospace stands at around $6 billion. India has plans to equip every Indian Navy warship with the deadly missile, and the next-generation version, the BrahMos-NG, is slated to equip every fighter aircraft.

Named after the Brahmaputra and the Moskva rivers, the BrahMos is a two-stage missile with a solid-propellant booster engine as its first stage, which brings it to supersonic speed (Mach 1) and then separates. The liquid ramjet — the second stage — then takes it to Mach 3 (around 3,700 km/h at sea level) in the cruise phase.

It has a baseline flight range of around 290 km, though India is capable of extending the range up to 800 km. It operates on a fire-and-forget principle — meaning that it requires no further input or controlling after launch. Its speed, variety of flight trajectories, and low radar signature (because of a compact design and the use of special materials) make it difficult to even detect. As a result, it cannot easily be intercepted by known defence systems. It can strike targets as high as 15 km and as low as 10 metres above ground level. Furthermore, its destructive power is enhanced because of its massive kinetic energy.

The multi-role, multi-platform precision-strike missile has been successfully tested more than 10 times in ship-to-ship, ship-to-shore, shore-to-ship, ground-to-ground, air-to-ground, and air-to-sea configurations.

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