The Philippines confirmed on Friday it will acquire three batteries of the BrahMos cruise missile jointly developed by India and Russia in a deal worth almost $375 million, a development expected to boost India’s efforts to become a major exporter of defence hardware.
The defence deal is unlikely to go down well with China, whose aggressive behaviour in the disputed South China Sea has taken relations with the Philippines to a fresh low. The Philippine Marines intend to use the BrahMos as a shore-based anti-ship missile.
Philippine defence secretary Delfin Lorenzana said he had recently signed the “notice of award” – or the acceptance of India’s proposal for supplying the missile – for the Philippine Navy’s shore-based anti-ship missile acquisition project.
“Negotiated with the Government of India, it includes the delivery of three batteries, training for operators and maintainers as well as the necessary Integrated Logistics Support (ILS) package,” Lorenzana said in a brief post on his Facebook page.
The deal for the BrahMos was conceptualised as early as 2017, and the office of the Philippines president “approved its inclusion in the Horizon 2 Priority Projects in 2020”, he added.
“The Coastal Defense Regiment of the Philippine Marines will be the primary employer of this modern strategic defense capability of the Armed Forces of the Philippines,” Lorenzana said.
There was no official word from the Indian side, though Sudhir Mishra, who was till recently the CEO of BrahMos Aerospace, said in a tweet: “As then CEO and MD, worked on the Philippines contract for the past five years very hard connecting people, dots, procedures & unseen forces. BrahMos has shown the way for high value defence exports.”
The deal with the Philippines could open the door for further sales of the BrahMos – which has a range of 290 km and can carry a 200-kg warhead – to other Southeast Asian countries such as Vietnam and Indonesia, which have been engaged in negotiations for the weapon system for several years.
See full article Hindustan Times