PM Modi and Indonesian president Prabowo Subianto (Photo: X/narendramodi)
New Delhi: Indonesia has decided to induct India's indigenously developed Astra beyond-visual-range air-to-air missile, becoming one of the weapon’s first overseas customers, even as the two countries close in on a larger deal covering the supersonic BrahMos cruise missile.
The Astra decision, confirmed during a state visit to Jakarta by the prime minister, Narendra Modi, follows the missile’s use during Operation Sindoor, India’s military response to the Pahalgam terror attack, in which the Astra was fired in actual combat for the first time. That combat record is understood to have influenced Jakarta’s decision to examine the missile for its own fighter fleet.
Modi held talks with the president of Indonesia, Prabowo Subianto, at the Istana Merdeka presidential palace on July 7, as part of a state visit running from July 6 to July 8. It is Modi’s fourth visit to Indonesia and his first bilateral trip there since the two countries elevated relations to a comprehensive strategic partnership in 2018.
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The Jakarta stop forms the first leg of a three-nation tour that also takes in Australia and New Zealand, concluding on July 11.
What is Astra air-to-air missile system?
The Astra Mk-1, developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation and manufactured by Bharat Dynamics Limited, is an all-weather missile capable of engaging highly manoeuvrable fighter aircraft at ranges beyond 110 km in head-on engagements.
Fitted with an active radar seeker and electronic counter-countermeasure systems, it is currently carried by the Indian Air Force’s Su-30MKI fleet and is being integrated onto other fighter platforms.
On the BrahMos missile, the two leaders announced in their joint briefing. Indonesia signed a preliminary agreement in March 2026 for a single coastal-defence battery of the missile, a joint product of the Defence Research and Development Organisation and Russia’s NPO Mashinostroyeniya dating back to 1998.
Jakarta has since sought at least one additional battery from New Delhi and is looking for a concessional line of credit to help finance the purchase, according to officials familiar with the discussions.
A BrahMos battery typically comprises launchers, radars and missiles; under the Missile Technology Control Regime, of which India is a member, the export version supplied to overseas buyers is capped at a range of 290 km.
New Delhi has already sold the BrahMos to the Philippines, which signed a $375 million contract in 2022 with deliveries beginning in 2024, and to Vietnam, where the defence secretary, Rajesh Kumar Singh, said in May that a deal had been signed, though not yet publicly announced.
India has also proposed a joint defence industry cooperation committee with Jakarta to work on technology transfer and joint research.
In March, Brigadier General Rico Ricardo Sirait of Indonesia’s Ministry of Defence said his country’s interest in BrahMos formed part of an effort to modernize its armed forces and strengthen coastal defence.
Read also: Explained: Modi’s Indo-Pacific diplomatic push
Defence cooperation is only one part of a broader agenda for the visit. Officials said Modi and Subianto were expected to oversee seven to eight agreements spanning critical minerals, healthcare, pharmaceuticals, education and space.
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