New Delhi: Cyprus has shown keen desire to purchase Brahmos Cruise missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles from India. The recent visit of Cyprus President Nicos Christodoulides to New Delhi has set the stage for this possible takeover. However, the possibility of Cyprus acquiring BrahMos missiles has already raised alarm bells in Turkish strategic and security circles.Apart from BrahMos, Cyprus is also interested in purchasing kamikaze drones like India’s Nagastra-1 and Skystriker. If these defense deals are finalized, the agreements would be a major strategic blow to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, given Ankara’s decades-long occupation of Northern Cyprus. If the deal is signed, it will also mark the first deployment of Indian-made weapons systems in the Eastern Mediterranean.Turkey’s move to secretly send hundreds of drones to Pakistan during the height of the India-Pakistan conflict in May 2025 and its repeated controversial comments on Kashmir on various platforms had already created a rift between New Delhi and Ankara.Defense analysts in Ankara fear that deploying these supersonic missiles or kamikaze drones in the Mediterranean Sea could fundamentally alter the regional military balance and threaten Turkey’s security.Countries around the world have already seen how India used BrahMos missiles to destroy key military targets of Pakistan during the conflict in May. Some reports claim that the potential BrahMos purchase for Cyprus would be made under the EU’s SAFE program as part of a defense package of approximately 1.2 billion euros allocated to the Greek Cypriot administration.During Christodoulides’ visit, PM Modi and the President welcomed the conclusion of the Roadmap for Bilateral Defense Cooperation (2026-2031) between the Defense Ministries. They underlined the potential for significant cooperation in the defense sector and also welcomed the signing of a technical arrangement for the establishment of official coordination and cooperation on Search and Rescue (SAR) matters.“These will provide an institutional framework to promote defense industrial cooperation and technology partnership, build on the momentum of the India-EU Defense and Security Partnership signed on January 27, 2026, as well as facilitate exchanges, training and capacity building.