India, Indonesia Ink Deals on Defense, Economy; BrahMos Missile Contract Signed

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi concluded a three-day visit to Indonesia, signing a raft of deals on critical minerals, agriculture, and missile procurements with the Southeast Asian nation. During the visit, which is part of a three-nation regional tour that will also take him to Australia and New Zealand, Modi held bilateral talks with President Prabowo Subianto, who personally dropped him off at the airport prior to his departure yesterday. The visit was Modi’s first to Indonesia since 2023, and came after Prabowo was welcomed to India as a Republic Day chief guest in January 2025. During the visit, India and Indonesia signed 14 agreements covering critical minerals, maritime security, and defense. According to a joint statement, the two leaders “reaffirmed their strong commitment to further enhance and broaden the defense and maritime partnership,” building on the Defense Agreement signed in 2018. They also “highlighted that economic and trade cooperation remains a key pillar of the dynamic India-Indonesia ties” and pledged to unlock “greater economic opportunities.” In a post on X just prior to his departure for Melbourne, Modi said that he left Indonesia “with immense satisfaction at the outcomes achieved as far as the future of our partnership is concerned.” He added that the visit had “opened new avenues for cooperation in defense and security, maritime collaboration, critical and emerging technologies, artificial intelligence, digital innovation and capacity building.” Speaking at a joint press conference after his summit with Modi on Tuesday, Prabowo said, “We’re two of the largest democracies in the world. Partnerships between us will bring benefits to the region.” The agreements signed during Modi’s visit included MoUs on agriculture and the strengthening of supply chains in critical minerals and steel. But perhaps the most significant was the signing of a contract between BrahMos Aerospace, an Indo-Russian ​joint venture missile manufacturer, and Indonesia’s Ministry of Defense for the provision of BrahMos missiles to the Indonesian armed forces. The Indonesian government, which announced that there had been a “contract signing for BrahMos missile system,” did not state the value of the deal. Nor were any details provided in Tuesday’s joint statement, aside from the statement that the deal marked “the elevation of defense cooperation” between the two sides. Indonesia has expressed its interest in acquiring the potent weapons system, which has already been purchased by the Philippines and Vietnam, since at least 2018 – and serious talks have reportedly been ongoing for years. In March, Indonesia’s Ministry of Defense announced that it had finalized an agreement ​ to procure ‌BrahMos cruise missiles. India’s The Tribune newspaper reported at the time that the sale would include “the sale of one battery comprising launchers, radars, and missiles.” Earlier this week, Reuters news agency cited Indian sources as saying that the deal would be worth around $630 million. Separately, Indonesia’s Republikorp, a defense private holding company, ​and India-based defense company Bharat Dynamics signed an agreement regarding the provision of the latter’s Astra air-to-air missiles to Indonesia. This is the first export deal for the Astra missile system. During the visit, Prabowo also accompanied Modi on a visit to the Prambanan Temple complex in Yogyakarta, which marked the inauguration of a joint conservation project for the UNESCO World Heritage Site. While Indian media was perhaps overly effusive about Modi’s visit – one report described it as “the most consequential developments in India’s Act East policy in recent years” – it is undeniable that it points to a growing strategic alignment between the two nations. This has been evident since the signing in 2018 of a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between Modi and President Joko Widodo, which aimed to expand the economic and security ties between the two nations. And there is indeed much that binds the nations together, from their common involvement in the non-aligned movement during the Cold War to their shared anxieties about Chinese maritime overreach. The BrahMos and Astra deals in particular signal the emergence of a durable defense partnership that provides clear benefits to both sides, despite the continued challenges in India’s defense export ecosystem. For Indonesia, the deal is consistent with its desire to avoid overdependence on either the U.S. or China in its defense procurements. At the same time, it enhances India’s status as a valued defense industrial partner for Southeast Asian nations, and a potential “third way” for defense cooperation between Beijing and Washington.