Philippines to buy more BrahMos batteries from India to counter Chinese threat: Report
A top diplomat from Manila had said earlier this year that every country has a responsibility to safeguard its own security, adding that the BrahMos missile system provides the Philippines with the necessary defensive capability
The Philippines is reportedly looking to significantly expand its BrahMos missile capabilities by considering the purchase of up to nine additional coastal missile batteries. This move is part of a broader strategy to strengthen the 'BrahMos Belt,' a chain of missile defenses across Southeast Asian shores, which is viewed as a significant counter to Chinese ambitions in the region.
The Philippines is reportedly looking to significantly expand its BrahMos missile capabilities by considering the purchase of up to nine additional coastal missile batteries. This move is part of a broader strategy to strengthen the 'BrahMos Belt,' a chain of missile defenses across Southeast Asian shores, which is viewed as a significant counter to Chinese ambitions in the region.
The Philippines is reportedly looking to significantly expand its BrahMos missile capabilities by considering the purchase of up to nine additional coastal missile batteries. This move is part of a broader strategy to strengthen the 'BrahMos Belt,' a chain of missile defenses across Southeast Asian shores, which is viewed as a significant counter to Chinese ambitions in the region.
In further strengthening of the 'BrahMos Belt'—a chain of Southeast Asian shores equipped with the BrahMos missile—the Philippines is reportedly considering buying up to nine more BrahMos coastal missile batteries, a report said. The creation of a broad arc of missile defences across the shores of ASEAN countries is bad news for Chinese ambitions in the region.
The Philippines was the first country to place an order for the battle-tested BrahMos missiles in 2022. Manila bought three shore-based anti-ship BrahMos batteries and entrusted its Marine Corps' Coastal Defence Regiment with its operations. The deal reportedly included training, maintenance, and logistics along with mobile launchers, radars, and command elements.
The 'BrahMos Belt' became a reality after Vietnam and Indonesia also decided to add the Indo-Russian weapon to their arsenal. Thailand is also considering getting the supersonic projectiles.
"The BrahMos missile system provides the Philippines with a credible deterrent," noting that its speed and long range significantly strengthen the country's defence posture. "From a purely operational perspective, in military terms perhaps, it bestows on the Philippines some measure of anti-access and area denial. And that kind of capability now also raises, for any potential aggressor, the costs of such actions. So it sort of reconfigures the operational calculus when it comes to that kind of conflict," Philippines Ambassador to India Josel F. Ignacio had said earlier this year.
In the latest development, the Philippines is considering getting more batteries from India. While the news has not been officially announced by either side, it is said that the purchase is likely to be included under the country's Integrated Shore-Based Anti-Ship Missile System initiative. The objective is to reinforce the three BrahMos batteries operated by the Philippine Marine Corps, so that more area can be protected and multiple launch positions and improved salvo density can be ensured.
"If implemented at maximum scale, the programme would move BrahMos from a concentrated Marine capability toward a joint Army-Marine fires architecture spanning Luzon, Palawan, and other strategically exposed approaches across the archipelago. No Philippine authority has publicly confirmed a final nine-battery order, signed contract, or approved quantity, making the reported expansion an evolving requirement whose scale remains dependent upon negotiations, budgeting, and formal authorisation," Malaysia-based Defence Security Asia, which broke the news, said in a report.