With the first set of ‘Made in India’ Brahmos missiles expected to reach the Philippines in about a month, a technical working group of the Armed Forces of the Philippines is taking a closer look at India’s offer to sell the indigenous light combat aircraft (LCA) Tejas.
Confirming that the Tejas LCA buy is under consideration, Commodore Joe Anthony Orbe, commander of the naval forces, Southern Luzon, said, “(While) we have got the Brahmos advanced missile system from India, we don’t have the information (on Tejas) yet because we have a technical working group of the Armed Forces of the Philippines having that final decision on this procurement.”
Commodore Orbe is leading a delegation of the Philippines Navy to participate in the Indian Navy’s flagship ‘Milan 2024’ exercise that began in Visakhapatnam on February 19 and is to conclude on February 27.
Interestingly, an Indian industry delegation, manufacturing defence platforms and products, was in Manila just last week to explore defence partnerships. The delegates were from Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL), Bharat Dynamics, Mahindra Emirates Vehicle Armouring, and DCM Shriram Industries, among others.
On February 16, Shambhu Kumaran, Indian ambassador to the Philippines, had said during a defence industry event in Taguig City, “We have naval systems, we have fighter aircraft. We have a broad range of capabilities on the Indian side—helicopters, attack helicopters, land systems, artillery systems—and some of those would match with the capabilities you are looking to acquire in the Horizon 3.”
Of significance is the fact that the Philippines is about to implement a mega Peso 2-trillion revised military modernisation plan called 'Re-Horizon 3' to be implemented over the next 10 years.
The Philippines Navy had inked a Rs 2,770 crore deal with Brahmos Aerospace in January 2022 for the supply of three missile batteries, while reports speak of a keen interest by the Philippines Army to procure more of the Indian missile system.
Brahmos missiles are manufactured in India by Brahmos Aerospace, where India owns a 50.5 per cent stake while Russia’s state-owned NPO Mashinostroyenia has 49.5 per cent share. The export of the missile to other nations has to have the acquiescence of both the Indian and Russian governments as the missile development and manufacturing is an India-Russia joint venture set up in 1998.
Seen as an effective check on a belligerent China, the three-ton Brahmos is touted to be among the fastest cruise missiles with a strike range of about 450 km. It is a two-stage precision strike projectile that operates on a fire-and-forget principle with a top speed of 2.8 mach (3,347 km an hour) and is capable of delivering a 300 kg warhead.
At the forefront of the Sino-US competition since the 1950s, the Philippines is donning the role of a small but defiant power looking up to China in the eye. At the root of the dispute lies China’s claim to over 80 per cent of the South China Sea.
Of late, there have been several scraps between belligerent Chinese Navy ships and Philippines fishing boats, including ramming of the smaller fishing boats and water cannoning.
Incumbent Philippines President Bongbong Marcos is openly pro-US while his predecessor Rodrigo R. Duterte favoured Beijing.
The Philippines has also been undertaking joint air force patrols with US forces in the West Philippine Sea. In a sign of escalating tensions, Eduardo M Año, the Philippines’ national security adviser, said in a statement: “The Philippines rejects China’s assertion that joint patrols with US forces in the West Philippine Sea constitute stirring up trouble. Our engagements with the United States are well within our rights as a sovereign and independent nation.”
Meanwhile, India and China are engaged in a nearly four-year-long border face-off in the eastern Ladakh mountains that began after a border scuffle over territorial claims between the two biggest militaries in Asia. It led to a massive military buildup by both sides as a result of which about 1,20,000 soldiers have been in active deployments along with their heavy military equipment in extreme high altitude and hostile terrain.
