The naval variant of BrahMos is a supersonic anti-ship and land-attack cruise missile developed jointly by India’s DRDO and Russia’s NPO Mashinostroyeniya under the BrahMos Aerospace joint venture, and represents the sea-launched branch of one of the most widely deployed supersonic cruise missile families in the world. The Indian Navy became the first service globally to induct the system operationally, fitting it aboard INS Rajput in 2005.[1]
BrahMos takes its name from the Brahmaputra and Moskva rivers, symbolising the India-Russia partnership behind the missile, which combines a Russian-derived ramjet propulsion system with Indian guidance, seeker, and software integration. The programme began in the 1990s and the missile family has been in continuous development and refinement for roughly a quarter-century, with the Tribune describing the missile’s 2025 milestone as “BrahMos turns 25.”[2]
The naval variant was first operationally deployed aboard the Rajput-class destroyer INS Rajput in 2005, initially in an inclined-launcher configuration before the missile’s vertical launch system matured for later ship classes. This made the Indian Navy the first navy in the world to field an operational supersonic cruise missile of this class aboard a surface combatant.[1]
The naval variant can be fired from vertical launch systems, as used on the Kolkata- and Visakhapatnam-class destroyers, or from inclined deck launchers, as originally fitted on the older Rajput-class. The missile’s ship-based weapon complex is designed to be integrated across a range of hull sizes, from frigates to destroyers, giving the Navy flexibility in fitting the weapon across multiple ship classes.[3]
BrahMos travels at speeds of around Mach 2.8–3, giving it a very short adversary reaction time compared to sub-sonic cruise missiles, and can be flown on a mixed high-low trajectory or a purely sea-skimming low trajectory to minimise radar detection during terminal approach. The standard Indian naval variant has a range of around 300 km (extended from an original 290 km baseline under Missile Technology Control Regime constraints), while a domestically used extended-range (BrahMos-ER) variant can reach approximately 450 km, and an 800 km-range variant has been reported to be in development.[4]
Beyond the original Rajput-class fitment, BrahMos naval variants now equip the Kolkata-class and Visakhapatnam-class destroyers (16 missiles each in vertical launch cells) as well as the Talwar-class and Shivalik-class frigates, making it the Navy’s standard long-range anti-ship and land-attack weapon across most of its major surface combatants.[5] A submarine-launched variant has also been developed and tested for future integration aboard Indian Navy attack submarines, extending the missile family’s reach to the underwater domain.[1]
In addition to its anti-ship role, the naval BrahMos has a land-attack variant capable of striking coastal and inland targets; the missile’s first sea-launched test of the land-attack variant validated its ability to strike land targets from a ship-based launcher, adding a strike-warfare dimension to the Navy’s surface combatants beyond pure anti-ship engagement.[6]
While the Philippines deal involves the land-based coastal defence battery rather than the naval shipborne variant, BrahMos’s broader export success is closely tied to the naval-derived missile family: the first battery arrived in the Philippines in April 2024, a second followed in April 2025, and a third batch was scheduled for dispatch in late 2025, making the Philippines the first foreign customer for BrahMos. The export version’s range is capped at 290 km under Missile Technology Control Regime rules, while India’s own naval and land variants can reach considerably further.[7] In 2026, India additionally offered the Philippines the Extended Range (ER) BrahMos variant amid rising tensions in the South China Sea, underscoring the missile’s growing role as an instrument of Indian defence diplomacy in the Indo-Pacific.[8]
BrahMos gives Indian Navy surface combatants a long-range, high-speed strike capability that significantly complicates an adversary’s ship air-defence problem due to the missile’s speed and low-altitude terminal approach, while its widespread fleet integration across destroyer and frigate classes gives India a standardised long-range strike weapon across most of its major surface combatants — a rare degree of commonality among a navy’s principal anti-ship armament.[5]
| Type | Supersonic Anti-Ship / Land-Attack Cruise Missile |
| Speed | ~Mach 2.8–3 |
| Range | ~300 km (standard); ~450 km (ER); ~800 km (in development) |
| Launch Platforms | Destroyers, frigates (VLS or inclined launchers); submarine variant tested |
| First Naval Deployment | INS Rajput, 2005 |
| Developer | BrahMos Aerospace (India-Russia joint venture) |
| Export Customer | Philippines (land-based coastal battery variant) |