Sixteen months after BrahMos missiles were battle-tested during Operation Sindoor, the Indian side is examining a proposal to restructure the Indo-Russian joint venture behind the supersonic cruise missile, New Indian Express reported. 

The plan includes changes to the board and a move to bring more engineering and R&D work in-house.

The proposal, discussed at a meeting on Monday, looks at dropping DRDO’s Director General (Missiles and Strategic Systems) from the Indian side of the BrahMos Aerospace Pvt Ltd board. It also envisages splitting the Chairman of BrahMos Aerospace and Director General (BrahMos) roles into two separate posts. The Russian side’s representation is proposed to remain unchanged.

This restructuring comes as BrahMos scales up to meet a sharp rise in domestic orders and exports following its combat use during Operation Sindoor. The Philippines, BrahMos’s first overseas customer, began receiving the missiles in 2024. Indonesia and Vietnam have emerged as new buyers, while negotiations with the UAE are also gaining momentum.

Production is being ramped up to meet demand. The BrahMos integration and testing facility in Lucknow has added around 20% to the program’s overall production capacity, supplementing existing lines in Hyderabad, Pilani and Thiruvananthapuram. Indigenous content has risen to around 70%, against a target of 85%.

The broader missile ecosystem is also evolving, with DRDO transferring technologies developed in its laboratories to industry, while private companies are taking on a larger role in manufacturing and integration.

Sources familiar with the restructuring said BrahMos Aerospace had outgrown the governance structure created in 1998, when the program was still under development. They noted that the company now runs four plants, supplies all three services, and works against fixed export delivery schedules. A structure suited to a production company is seen as more appropriate than one designed around a development program.

The missile’s performance during Operation Sindoor has become central to government messaging and export promotion. Flagging off the first batch of BrahMos missiles produced at the Lucknow facility in October last year, defence minister Rajnath Singh said every inch of Pakistan was within BrahMos range and described Operation Sindoor as “just a trailer”.

However, the proposal has triggered concerns within sections of the establishment. Sources familiar with the work of the DG (MSS) laboratory cluster highlighted that DRDO labs had provided much of the design base, testing infrastructure and specialist manpower behind the program’s indigenisation efforts.

Removing the DG (MSS) from the board, they argued, could weaken BrahMos Aerospace’s formal institutional link with those laboratories. They also questioned whether a relatively small in-house engineering team could immediately replace capabilities built up across the DRDO missile complex over decades.

Concerns over staffing and production have surfaced earlier, with dips in output reportedly linked to staff transfers, resignations, and delays in clearing work on the next-generation BrahMos-NG missile.

The proposed revamp also comes amid a continuing legal dispute over the leadership of the joint venture. The Hyderabad bench of the Central Administrative Tribunal in December struck down the appointment of Dr Jaiteerth R Joshi as Director General (BrahMos), describing the selection process as marked by “manifest arbitrariness”.

The order came on a plea filed by Distinguished Scientist Sivasubramaniam Nambi Naidu, who argued that he was the senior-most eligible officer. The Telangana high court stayed the operative part of the CAT order in January, and the case remains pending.

Meanwhile, DRDO has been without a full-time chairman since Samir V Kamat demitted office on May 31, with defence secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh holding additional charge. Jagannath Nayak took over as DG (MSS) on July 1.

Agencies