A group of diplomats from ASEAN countries has visited the BrahMos Aerospace facility in New Delhi, providing the Southeast Asian delegation with a closer look at India’s defence-industrial capabilities and the engineering behind the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile system.
Singapore’s High Commissioner to India, Simon Wong, confirmed the visit through the Singapore High Commission’s official social media account, describing it as an opportunity for ASEAN representatives to learn more about India’s defence industry and BrahMos engineering. He also thanked the Philippine Embassy in New Delhi for organising the interaction.
The visit brings together three increasingly important strands of India’s regional engagement: the expansion of indigenous defence manufacturing, the emergence of BrahMos as a defence export programme and India’s growing security cooperation with Southeast Asian countries.
ASEAN Delegation Gets First-Hand Look at BrahMos
The diplomatic delegation visited BrahMos Aerospace in New Delhi, where the company’s corporate headquarters and design centre are located.
BrahMos Aerospace is an India-Russia joint venture established through cooperation between India’s Defence Research and Development Organisation and Russia’s NPO Mashinostroyenia. The programme combines Indian and Russian technological capabilities in areas including missile guidance, propulsion, launch systems and mission software.
According to BrahMos Aerospace, the missile has been developed for both anti-ship and land-attack roles and can be deployed from multiple platforms. Versions of the system have been operationalised with the Indian armed forces.
For visiting ASEAN diplomats, the interaction offered direct exposure to one of India’s most prominent missile-development programmes and the industrial ecosystem supporting it.
Philippine Embassy Organised the Visit
The Philippine Embassy’s role in organising the ASEAN delegation’s visit is particularly significant because the Philippines became the first foreign customer for the BrahMos weapon system.
India and the Philippines signed the contract for the BrahMos Shore-Based Anti-Ship Missile System in January 2022. The Philippine Embassy in New Delhi describes the agreement as a major milestone in bilateral defence cooperation and records its value at approximately $374 million.
The programme covers a shore-based anti-ship configuration intended for the Armed Forces of the Philippines. Deliveries subsequently began from India, turning BrahMos into India’s first major full-scale weapon system to secure an overseas export customer.
BrahMos Aerospace itself identifies the Philippine contract as the missile system’s breakthrough into the international market.
BrahMos Has Become Central to India-Philippines Defence Cooperation
The BrahMos programme now occupies an important position in the rapidly expanding defence relationship between India and the Philippines.
The two countries have operated under a formal defence cooperation framework since signing a Memorandum of Agreement on Defence Cooperation in 2006. Cooperation has progressively expanded into military exchanges, maritime security, training and defence equipment.
Official statements from the Philippine Embassy have repeatedly identified the BrahMos acquisition as one of the most important developments in this relationship.
During earlier engagements with BrahMos Aerospace representatives, Philippine officials also reviewed progress on the country’s acquisition of the shore-based anti-ship system and reaffirmed the Embassy’s role in facilitating coordination between Manila and New Delhi.
The missile deal consequently represents more than a commercial defence transaction. It has become one of the principal institutional links supporting the wider India-Philippines strategic partnership.
Philippines Holds an Important ASEAN Role in 2026
The visit also comes during the Philippines’ chairmanship of ASEAN in 2026.
The Philippines is simultaneously serving as the country coordinator for ASEAN-India Dialogue Relations for the 2024-2027 period. Its Embassy in New Delhi assumed the chairmanship of the ASEAN New Delhi Committee for the July-December 2026 period.
These responsibilities place Manila in a prominent position in interactions between India and the Southeast Asian grouping.
The Philippine Embassy has identified peace and security as one of the central pillars of its ASEAN chairmanship, alongside economic integration, digital transformation and people-centred regional cooperation.
Against this backdrop, bringing ASEAN diplomats to the BrahMos facility gives the wider Southeast Asian diplomatic community direct exposure to an Indian defence programme that already has an established connection with an ASEAN member state.
BrahMos Reflects India’s Expanding Defence Industrial Capability
BrahMos has developed into one of the most visible examples of India’s effort to build advanced weapons domestically while expanding its defence exports.
The missile programme draws on technological capabilities contributed by DRDO and NPO Mashinostroyenia. BrahMos Aerospace states that the system has been designed around a common configuration adaptable to land, sea and submarine-based applications, while specialised versions have also been developed for air launch.
Its export to the Philippines added an important international dimension to the programme and demonstrated that an Indian-based defence enterprise could supply a sophisticated missile system to a foreign military customer.
India has simultaneously placed increasing emphasis on expanding domestic defence production, strengthening indigenous supply chains and developing the country as a source of military equipment for friendly partner nations.
The ASEAN delegation’s visit therefore provided an opportunity to present those capabilities directly to representatives from a region that has become increasingly important to India’s wider Indo-Pacific engagement.
Defence Cooperation Adds Depth to ASEAN-India Relations
India and ASEAN already cooperate across trade, connectivity, maritime affairs, digital technologies and regional diplomacy. Defence and security engagement has increasingly become another component of this relationship.
India’s bilateral defence ties with individual ASEAN members include naval exercises, military training, ship visits, capacity building, maritime-domain cooperation and defence-industrial engagement.
The BrahMos facility visit adds a defence-technology dimension to these interactions by allowing diplomats to examine an operationally established Indian missile programme rather than discussing defence cooperation solely through official meetings.
For India, BrahMos provides a tangible demonstration of the capabilities emerging from its defence research and manufacturing ecosystem. For ASEAN countries, the visit offers greater familiarity with an Indian system that has already entered service with one member of the grouping.
The interaction consequently reflects the widening scope of ASEAN-India engagement and the growing role of defence technology within India’s partnerships in Southeast Asia. With BrahMos already establishing India’s first major missile export relationship in the region, direct engagement with ASEAN representatives gives India’s expanding defence-industrial capabilities greater visibility among some of its most important Indo-Pacific partners.
References
High Commission of the Republic of Singapore in New Delhi — Official social media update on the ASEAN delegation’s visit to BrahMos Aerospace, September 30, 2026.
High Commission of the Republic of Singapore in New Delhi — Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Singapore.
https://new-delhi.mfa.gov.sg
BrahMos Aerospace — Official BrahMos Missile programme information.
https://www.brahmos.com/page/brahmos-missile
BrahMos Aerospace — New Delhi Corporate Headquarters and Design Centre.
https://brahmos.com/contact
Embassy of the Philippines in New Delhi — Philippines-India Defence Cooperation and BrahMos acquisition.
https://newdelhipe.dfa.gov.ph/index.php/2014-04-14-03-09-43
Embassy of the Philippines in New Delhi — Official Embassy information on BrahMos Aerospace engagement and progress of the Philippine Shore-Based Anti-Ship Missile System acquisition.
https://newdelhipe.dfa.gov.ph
Embassy of the Philippines in New Delhi — Philippines’ 2026 ASEAN Chairmanship and ASEAN New Delhi Committee activities.
https://www.newdelhipe.dfa.gov.ph
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