India opens titanium, superalloy plant to boost defence manufacturing

India took a step toward greater materials self-reliance with the inauguration of a Titanium and Superalloys Materials Plant at the Strategic Materials Technology Complex in Lucknow.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said rare earths and related high-performance alloys are critical for defence, space, electronics and medical equipment, and only a handful of countries can refine and produce such materials and the high-end components they enable. The new facility is intended to expand domestic capability in refining and fabricating titanium and superalloys used in aerospace and defence systems.
Singh also visited the BrahMos production unit in Lucknow and flagged off the first locally manufactured missiles from the site. The facility, built on roughly 200 acres at an estimated cost of ₹380 crore, is planned to produce about 100 BrahMos missiles annually and supply the Army, Navy and Air Force, creating hundreds of jobs.
Officials framed the campus as part of a broader push to reduce vulnerability to supplier-driven spare-part disruptions and to strengthen strategic autonomy by producing critical materials, components, chips and alloys domestically.