LUCKNOW: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Sunday virtually inaugurated the BrahMos Aerospace Integration and Testing Facility at the Uttar Pradesh Defence Industrial Corridor here.
The Rs 300 crore facility is a key part of the Uttar Pradesh Defence Industrial Corridor and represents India's commitment to self-reliant defence manufacturing, the Ministry of Defence said.
"It includes not only missile production but also testing, integration, and a materials complex for aerospace-grade components. A major leap toward #AtmanirbharBharat and a strategic boost to regional industrial growth," the Ministry of Defence said on X.
The Uttar Pradesh government had said the facility will manufacture one of the world's fastest supersonic cruise missiles, with a range of 290 to 400 km and a top speed of Mach 2.8.
The missile, a product of BrahMos Aerospace, a joint venture between India and Russia, can be launched from land, sea, or air and uses a "fire and forget" system.
Completed in three-and-a-half years, the BrahMos production unit in Lucknow is spread over 80 hectares of land provided free of cost by the Uttar Pradesh government, the state government had said in the statement.
The UP Defence Industrial Corridor, announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2018, has six nodes --- Lucknow, Kanpur, Aligarh, Agra, Jhansi, and Chitrakoot -- where major investments are being made to boost defence manufacturing.
Uttar Pradesh is the second state after Tamil Nadu to establish a Defence Industrial Corridor, it added.