Defence Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh said Vietnam has already signed a deal with India for the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile system, though it is yet to be publicly announced, while Indonesia is in the final stages of concluding a similar agreement.
India has signed a deal with Vietnam to supply BrahMos supersonic cruise missiles jointly developed with Russia, while negotiations for a similar agreement with Indonesia are in the final stages, Defence Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh said on Saturday.
The financial details of the Vietnam and Indonesia agreements have not been officially disclosed. However, a deal with Vietnam could be worth about Rs 60 billion (USD 629 million), including training and logistical support, Reuters had previously reported, citing a source.
Speaking at Asia’s premier defence forum, the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, Singh said Vietnam had already signed the agreement, although it had not yet been publicly announced.
“My understanding is that with both Indonesia and with Vietnam, the deal is in the final stages that in fact, for Vietnam, I understand that it has already been signed, probably not publicly announced, but it’s already been signed,” Singh said while responding to a question on potential buyers of the BrahMos missile system.
India has a strong commitment to ASEAN nations, Singh said, without disclosing further details of the BrahMos deals.
The Philippines became the first foreign buyer of the BrahMos missile system after signing a contract worth nearly USD 375 million in 2022. India has been expanding defence exports as part of its broader push to strengthen domestic defence manufacturing for both local use and overseas sales.
Indonesia announced in March that it had entered into an agreement with India to procure the BrahMos missile system. Singh’s remarks indicated that negotiations have progressed significantly and are nearing completion.
Earlier this month, media reports suggested that Vietnam was close to signing a BrahMos missile deal with India. Singh’s comments on Saturday marked the first official public confirmation that the agreement had already been signed.
Referring to the broader issue of defence technology transfers, Singh said countries generally shared advanced military technologies with trusted partners.
“Obviously you share technology with people you trust,” he said.
He added that India viewed ASEAN countries as friendly partners.
“We treat all of you as friendly foreign countries with whom we can share advanced defence technologies,” Singh said.
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) comprises Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Timor-Leste and Vietnam.
India’s BrahMos exports to Southeast Asia have attracted attention as New Delhi expands defence cooperation with the region. Several ASEAN members, including the Philippines and Vietnam, have overlapping maritime claims with China in the South China Sea, one of the world’s busiest trade routes.
Addressing a session titled “Building Defence Industrial Resilience”, Singh said India was ready to work with partners across the region and beyond to develop resilient supply chains, trusted defence partnerships, secure maritime commons and innovation cooperation.
“Today, resilience has become one of the defining strategic requirements of our time,” he said.
Highlighting growing geopolitical uncertainty, Singh pointed to conflicts in Europe and West Asia, disruptions in maritime trade routes, supply chain vulnerabilities, technological disruptions and increasing strategic competition as factors reshaping the global security environment.
“The lessons from recent years are clear. Defence preparedness cannot depend upon fragile or overly concentrated supply chains. Nations today require resilient, trusted, diversified, and technologically adaptive defence industrial ecosystems,” he said.
For India, resilience is not only about self-reliance but also about building trusted partnerships, diversified manufacturing networks, innovation ecosystems and secure supply chains that contribute to regional and global stability, he added.
Singh said India had implemented major reforms in defence production, innovation and exports over the past decade. The government opened the sector to greater private-sector participation, encouraged startups and small industries, strengthened indigenous design and manufacturing capabilities and expanded collaboration with global partners.
India is not only modernising its armed forces but is also emerging as a dependable defence manufacturing and maintenance hub, he said.
According to Singh, government-owned companies account for nearly 72 per cent of India’s defence production, while the private sector contributes the remaining share. He also noted that three Indian government-owned defence firms are among the world’s top 100 arms-producing companies.
