In a major development that could turn out to be a trendsetter uplifting the scenario of the state both economically and socially, UP may soon start manufacturing the Next-Gen state of the art ‘BrahMos missile’.

To establish Uttar Pradesh as the country's largest and advanced defence manufacturing centre, the Defense Industrial Corridor of UP will further gain momentum as Domestic and foreign companies working in the defence sector have taken the initiative to invest in the first Defence Industrial Corridor of the state.

The BrahMos Aerospace’s CEO and MD Dr Sudhir Kumar Misra in a letter sent on Tuesday to UPEIDA CEO and additional chief secretary (home) Awanish Awasthi sought 200 acre land for the project at the Defence Corridor for making the BrahMos missile. The delegation from aerospace also met Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Tuesday.

BrahMos Supersonic Cruise Missile is the only unique, precise and state-of-the-art cruise missile in the world. The missile has been designed, developed and produced by BrahMos Aerospace, a joint venture of DRDO, Government of India and NPOM, Government of Russia.

It is based on the technology of Russia's P-800 Oniks cruise missile. About 500 engineers and technical people will get direct employment in the BrahMos Production Center which will be built by investing Rs 300 crores on the land to be allotted for making BrahMos missiles at Lucknow node.

 Apart from this, about five thousand people will get indirect employment and 10 thousand people will get work through the production center. The work of setting up the BrahMos Production Center is likely to start soon. Research and development work will also be done in these centers. More than 100 BrahMos missiles are planned to be built in the next three years. Due to the BrahMos Production Center, many other well-known companies working in the defence sector in the UP Defence Corridor will come to the state.

It is worth noting that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced the creation of a Defence Corridor in UP during the Investors' Summit in January 2018. Further, it was announced that the state government is setting up defence corridors at Lucknow, Kanpur, Chitrakoot, Jhansi, Agra, and Aligarh nodes.

During the Defense Expo-Lucknow in February 2020, many domestic and foreign companies making products related to defence had signed MoUs worth 50,000 crores for investment in the corridor. Most of the MoUs have been signed for the corridor being built in Andla on Khair Road in Aligarh.

After this, various companies have shown interest in investing in the Lucknow node. According to UPEIDA officials, around 29 companies submitted their proposals to the government for setting up factories in the Aligarh node and requested to provide land for setting up factories.

Similarly, 11 companies in the Lucknow node, six in the Jhansi node, eight in Kanpur node have requested to provide land for setting up factories. Acting on the proposals received from various companies, UPEDIA has so far allotted 55.4 hectares of land in Aligarh node to 19 international companies.

About four acres of land has been allotted to two companies in Kanpur node and 15 acres of land to one company in Jhansi. Whereas in Lucknow node, it has been agreed to give 200 acres of land to build Brahmos Production Center.

In the last three years, over 65 big companies have requested the government to provide land in the Defense Industrial Corridor to set up their factories, of which around 19 big companies have been allotted 55.4 hectares of land by the Uttar Pradesh Expressways Industrial Development Authority (UPEIDA) recently.

In the Aligarh node, among the 19 companies related to the defence sector, who have been allotted land, two companies are investing Rs 581 crore to make drones. In this, Anchor Research Lab LLP will invest the maximum amount of Rs 550 crore. The company has been allotted 10 hectares of land on behalf of UPEIDA. With an investment of Rs 30.75 crore, Allan and Alvan has been allotted a land of 8 acres.

Similarly, 10 hectares of land has also been allotted to Sadicate Innovation International, which is investing Rs 150 crore. With an investment of Rs 100 crore Jai Sai Anu Overseas has been given 4.5 hectares of land and Milkor Defence Pvt Ltd investing Rs 98.25 crore, has been given around 4 acres of land .

Tractrix Auto Dynamics, which is investing 40 crores, has been given 2 acres of land. Apart from this, Nitya Creation India, PBM Insolation Pvt Ltd, Deep Explo Equipments Pvt Ltd, Veriwin Defense Pvt Ltd, Advance Fire and Safety, Crimson Energy Exports, P-2 Logitech and Cobra Industries has also been allotted land for setting up the factory. Soon the above companies will start the process of setting up their factories.

These 19 companies of Aligarh node will provide employment to thousands of people by investing Rsp 1245 crore. With these investments made in the Aligarh, Kanpur, Jhansi and Lucknow nodes in the Defense Corridor, the state will move rapidly towards becomin ing self-reliant in the field of defence product manufacturing.