In May 2025, Union Minister Rajnath Singh, Ministry of Defence (MoD) virtually inaugurated the BrahMos Aerospace Integration and Testing Facility with Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister(CM) Yogi Adityanath leading the ceremony at the Uttar Pradesh Defence Industrial Corridor (UPDIC) in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh (UP), to strengthen India’s efforts to become a self-reliant in defence production.
- The BrahMos Production Unit, established by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), MoD was also inaugurated.
- The inauguration coincided with the anniversary of the 1998 Pokhran nuclear tests, underscoring India’s commitment to strengthening its defense capabilities.
Background:
i.The BrahMos Aerospace Integration and Testing Facility was announced as part of the Defence Industrial Corridor initiative, launched by Prime Minister(PM) Narendra Modi during the 2018 Global Investors’ Summit. The foundation stone for this facility was laid in December 2021.
ii.The UP Defence Industrial Corridor has six nodes: Lucknow, Kanpur, Aligarh, Agra, Jhansi, and Chitrakoot.
Key Points:
i.The facility, spanning over 200-acres, is built at Rs.300 crore.
ii.The testing facility centre will have integration of Booster assemblies, Avionics, Propellant, Ramjet engines.
iii.The facility is designed to produce 80 to 100 BrahMos missiles annually, including the next-generation BrahMos-NG variant.
About BrahMos missile:
i.The BrahMos missile is a supersonic cruise missile developed jointly by India’s DRDO and Russia’s NPO Mashinostroyeniya, forming the BrahMos Aerospace joint venture.
ii.Named after the Brahmaputra and Moskva rivers, it operates on a two-stage propulsion system: a solid-fuel booster for initial acceleration and a liquid-fueled ramjet for sustained supersonic cruise, reaching speeds up to Mach 3.
iii.Designed with a “fire-and-forget” capability, the missile can be launched from land, sea, air, and submarine platforms, offering versatile deployment options.
iv.Its range varies by variant, with the standard version reaching up to 290 kilometre(km), and extended-range versions exceeding 450 km, enhancing its strategic value.
Others:
i.During the event, Union Minister Rajnath Singh also inaugurated India’s largest Titanium and Superalloy Materials Plant, operated by Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh(UP) based Aerolloy Technologies Limited, a subsidiary of PTC Industries Limited. Located within the Lucknow node of the UP Defence Industrial Corridor.
- The 50-acre plant is recognized as the world’s largest single-site titanium remelting facility, boasting an annual capacity of 6,000 tonnes. It employs advanced technologies such as Vacuum Arc Remelting (VAR), Electron Beam (EB), Plasma Arc Melting (PAM), and Vacuum Induction Melting (VIM) to produce aerospace-grade materials.
ii.In addition to the plant’s inauguration, the foundation stones for seven other advanced facilities were laid as part of India’s first Strategic Materials Technology Complex. These include an aerospace precision castings plant, an aerospace forge shop and mill products plant, and an aerospace precision machining shop.
iii.In addition, the foundation stone laid for the Defence Testing Infrastructure System (DTIS), a facility dedicated to testing and certifying defence products to ensure they meet quality and performance standards.
About Ministry of Defence(MoD):
Union Minister – Rajnath Singh (Constituency – Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, UP)
Minister of State (MoS) – Sanjay Seth (Constituency – Ranchi, Jharkhand)
