HYDERABAD: BrahMos Aerospace is developing new-generation missiles, including a sleeker variant for light combat aircraft (LCA), hypersonic versions, and a model for submarine launch, according to its chairman and MD Dr Jaiteerth Raghavendra Joshi.
“(Currently) we are firing from the land, ship and air versions, and to accommodate it, we want to develop a new generation missile, a sleeker version that can be integrated with the light combat aircraft. That is a major thing we are doing. We are reducing the diameter so that we can fire it from the submarine. These are the new developments and we are also working on hypersonic versions,” he said.
Dr Joshi was speaking at a panel discussion on “Telangana Flying High: The Rise of Aerospace & Defence” organised here on Monday as part of the Telangana Rising Global Summit 2025.
Joshi revealed that the state-of-the-art modern combat system is also trying to bring the Indian Society for Non-destructive Testing (ISNT) to Hyderabad, while expressing concern over lack of quality and skilful engineers in core metallurgical, mechanical, electronics and aerospace branches.
Former fighter pilot N Uttam Kumar Reddy, who is currently serving as Telangana minister for civil supplies and irrigation, attended the panel discussion. While assuring private sector defence and space equipment developers all assistance from the state government, he asked them to approach the government with their ideas.
The panel discussion was moderated by Dr G Satheesh Reddy, president, Aeronautical Society of India and former chairman, DRDO.
Other panelists included Bharat Dynamics Ltd (BDL) CMD Commodore A Madhav Rao (retd.), Safran India CEO Jetendra Gavankar, Tata Advanced Systems Ltd executive director Masood Husseini, ITP Externals (ITP Aero, Spain) managing director Sandeep Sharma, Ananth Technologies CMD Dr Subba Rao Pavuluri, Skyroot Aerospace cofounder Naga Bharat Daka and Dhruva Space founder Sanjay Nekkanti. Almost all of them have set up stalls at the venue of the Global Summit.
Commodore Madhav Rao (retd.) of BDL said that the next decade will be defined by high-volume missile production and export readiness. He emphasised the need for an expanded network of test facilities to reduce dependence on DRDO and enable faster production cycles for this. He added that rising global interest in Indian missile systems requires capacity that “matches global competitiveness”.
Skyroot Aerospace’s Naga Bharat said that India must transition from manufacturing components to designing and developing end-to-end space systems if it hopes to capture a significant share of the global space economy. Such deep-tech ventures, he stressed, need long-gestation capital, stable policy frameworks and a highly specialised talent ecosystem.
He added that Telangana has the manufacturing depth required but must now catalyse innovation-led private space ventures.